Pages tagged "News"
COMMUNITY BASED ORGANIZATIONS FACE IMPENDING FUNDING CUTS
By: James Gordon
On Wednesday morning, representatives from various Community Based Organizations (CBOs) from all over Miami gathered before the Miami-Dade County Finance Committee to make a case against impending funding cuts. In accordance with Florida law, each representative was given a total of one minute to defend the value of their respective organizations and make a plea for continued funding. Though the many CBOs present were varied in their causes and missions, they were united in their message; the work that CBOs do is vital to creating a more equitable and thriving community and continued funding is essential to making their missions possible.
Fast Food Workers Rise
By: James Gordon
NCRC documentary "Fleeced: Speaking Out Against Senior Financial Fraud" receives a regional Emmy award
Groups Release Information to Help Immigrant Students Take Advantage of New College Tuition Law
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“A message from the D.C. area nonprofit community” - The Washington Post, May 25
The views expressed in this letter do not represent official positions of individual organizations, but rather a shared perspective of the sector.
Audubon Society Petitions Against Filling Biscayne Bay for MLS Soccer Stadium
The Audubon Society recommend the following steps six action steps be taken today to prevent filling in the Biscayne Bay slip for use as a soccer stadium.
Mayor Gimenez recently offered David Beckham the FEC boat slip on Biscayne Bay as an Alternative Site for his proposed soccer stadium. This site is now preferred site for the MLS Soccer Stadium.
Having soccer is great for Miami, however we shouldn't have to fill the bay to play professional soccer. We need to better protect public land over private interests! Help us preserve the bay for future generations!
There are six simple ways you can help:
1) Sign the Petition to "Stop the Proposed Building of an MLS Soccer Stadium on Biscayne Blvd at Museum Park," directed at County Mayor Gimenez, City Mayor Regalado and District Commissioner Marc Sarnoff. http://www.thepetitionsite.
2) Email and call the Miami City Commissioners
3) Email and call County Mayor Gimenez and City of Miami Mayor Regalado, and urge them to choose a stadium site that does not require filling Biscayne Bay!
4) Occupy Museum Park on June 14th by utilizing it as a public space: enjoying picnicking, kayaking, boating, etc by the boat slip.
5) Sign up for the Biscayne Bay Coalition and amplify the voice of the bay! For more information, please contact Biscayne Bay Coalition Coordinator Susan Shapiro
6) Vote NO on filling the deepwater FEC Boat Slip to build a soccer stadium at the upcoming Elections!
Watch TAS's Executive Director comment on this issue on Channel 7 News . Please read our talking points and our letteron the latest proposed soccer stadium site.
Link to Tropical Audubon Society E-Blast
Emerge Americas Techweek draws 220 companies, 115 startups
By: Emon Reiser
Booting up with 6,000 attendees - 1,000 more than initially expected - the eMerge Americas Techweek concluded Tuesday with organizers and attendees lauding the convention that drew tech innovators and investors from throughout the U.S., the Caribbean and Latin America.
"We really saw this as an opportunity to get involved in what will begin to evolve into a technology wave," said Sherrie Porter, Senior Vice President of Miami-based EWM Realty.
This is the Start it up network for teaching entrepreneurship bubble. From May 2-6, attendees representing startups and businesses and tech enthusiasts gathered at the Miami Beach Convention Center for the event, which is slated to become an annual fixture in the city to help cement South Florida as an international tech hub. The convention touted more than 200 participating companies and 115 startups this year.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Breakfast With The Business Journal - Boca Raton
MAY 12, 2016
2016 Influential Business Women Awards
MAY 20, 2016
2016 Healthiest Employers Awards & Health Fair
JUNE 02, 2016
The conference was the brainchild of businessman Manny Medina, former owner of Terremark Worldwide, who said he experienced firsthand the lack of support needed to nurture a burgeoning technology business in South Florida, early in his career. “This particular idea came to me out of frustration because running a publicly traded technology company out of Miami, or South Florida, is just challenging because Miami is not seen as a technology hub,” Medina said. “I wanted to do something where we helped change that.”
Medina said many attendees were impressed by the substantive content the events' 150 speakers brought to Miami’s burgeoning technology conversation .
One of the speakers was José A. Quiñonez, Executive Director of San Francisco-based Mission Asset Fund. He was invited to speak at eMerge on his company’s social lending product Lending Circles, started to offer better financing options for low-income citizens through technology. Quiñonez said more than 65 attendees from different organizations met him at the convention, where MAF signed an official partnership agreement with the nonprofit Catalyst Miami.
“We’re going to be doing the program with them initially and then we’re going to be looking for other organizations to add to the mix,” Quiñonez said. “We came to meet the local folks and we got the chance to meet other foundation heads like the Knight Foundation. Everybody was at the table, as it were. “
Along with the 220 participating companies that networked at the convention, events included the Startup Village, where more than 115 startups from around the globe had tables and networked on the convention floor and a Launch Competition, where the top startup companies presented and competed for $150,000 in prizes. Tech enthusiasts also competed for $30,000 with ideas to help solve problems in emerging markets.
Young entrepreneurs participated in the convention's Youth Biz Plan Challenge and the youth business expo. Attendee Kristy Vale, a senior in high school, represented her family's business, Phantom's Custom Bikes. Vale said that with only an hour at the convention Tuesday, she had already connected with a local motorcycle company. "People are really taking advantage of this opportunity, especially young people," said Patricia Peña, social media specialist for the Weston-based tech marketing firm Optime Consulting. Medina said the events exceeded his expectations, but that plans for next year will include improvements. “Miami is the unofficial capital of Latin America for everything except for technology. What we’re trying to do here is by creating this gathering to spark what is already happening,” Medina said. “You have a lot of incubators, a lot of accelerators, a lot of startups, but we brought this massive amount of people here to accelerate that.”
Catalyst Miami to Launch Lending Circles Program
Asset & Opportunity Network: House Committee Attacks Financial Protection
House Committee Attacks Financial ProtectionRefute unfounded stories that the CFPB is hurting consumers.Despite having proven its worth as an effective watchdog for public interest, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is under attack. Last week, the House Committee on Financial Services released an online survey asking people to weigh in with stories about how the CFPB is hurting the public. These unfounded claims suggest that business as usual in Washington is best for America. We know the real value of consumer financial protection. We need to tell those stories!As our partners at Americans for Financial Reform put it in their announcement, “We can’t let the industry win. What the Committee should hear is the real story about financial abuses that impact Americans.”
Do you have 5 minutes?
If so, share a story about how the CFPB has helped you or the clients you serve. The CFPB is a positive force in the financial marketplace, so please take a moment and tell the House Committee the side of the story it doesn’t want to hear.
Thank you for all you do to protect consumers in the financial marketplace, today and every day.
Want to share your story with us or send other feedback? Email [email protected]. Make sure you receive e-mail updates from the Assets & Opportunity Network. ***
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CFED Released an Assets & Opportunities Scorecard for Florida
- The average college debt for students graduating increased 8% from $27,150 in 2011 to $29,400 in 2012.
- As student loan debt increased, so did the student loan default rate. Fifteen percent of borrowers in 2012 defaulted on their student loans within three years of starting repayment, up from 13% in 2011.
- The percent of employees participating in employer-provided retirement plans continued to decline from 47% in 2007 to 44% in 2012.
- Although the racial wealth gap narrowed slightly between 2010 and 2011, households of color still fall far behind white households. They have approximately one-tenth the median net worth of white households ($12,377 and $110,637, respectively) and are considerably less likely to own a home.
- The homeownership rate for households of color is 26 percentage points lower than the rate for white households (46% and 72%, respectively).
- Only eight states (Maryland, New York, Maine, New Jersey, Connecticut, Washington, Minnesota and Rhode Island) have adopted 50% or more of the 67 policies that can support family financial security. Meanwhile, seven states (Idaho, Missouri, South Dakota, Alabama, Alaska, Mississippi and Wyoming) have adopted fewer than one-quarter of the policies.