Catalyst Miami

Miami-Dade is known for being ground-zero for climate change in the USA. The common narrative is a call for resilience, meaning that we will spring back into shape after facing adversity. However, as the VP of Policy and Advocacy at Catalyst Miami, a social justice organization with a 25-year track-record in the region, we are ensuring that this process of becoming resilient is also transformational. We envision a Miami where climate investments not only hold back water, but also help communities to meet their basic needs, build a just economy, and honor our ecology.

My work includes developing a grassroots leadership pipeline that has supported hundreds in movement-building efforts. Together, we have secured several wins, including centering justice in climate action planning and a more participatory County budget process. This body of work is being done by just a few staff. The Elevate Prize would allow us to increase our capacity to expand this model. In addition, we are undergoing a leadership transition where I am moving into the CEO role. The mentorship and tailored support that the Elevate Prize provides would be priceless in supporting my leadership growth, as well as our organization’s shift to becoming Black-led.

My interest in health equity started because of the stories my mother shared working as a physician with immigrant and refugee communities. I attended Brown University to learn to address racial health disparities, and it was there that I learned about the environmental justice movement. I was floored that the corporate greed destroying our environment simultaneously and disproportionately wreaks havoc on the well-being of Black and Brown communities. After working in the environmental justice field and pursuing an MPH in Global Environmental Health, I transitioned to Catalyst Miami to address climate injustices. 

I envision Miami-Dade as a model of a just climate transition, using climate investments as a means to rethink our extractive economy and create opportunity for disinvested communities.  My purpose is to support grassroots leaders from low-wealth communities in being at the decision-making table in order to shape this future, as well as in implementing on-the-ground solutions as they see fit. My goals are to support more people in creating microcosms of the change we need now, while improving our government institutions and policies by creating participatory models of governance. In the process, I want Catalyst Miami to fully embody this vision of being as community-led as possible.

Catalyst Miami’s mission is to identify and collectively solve issues facing low-wealth Miami-Dade County residents and their communities. Specifically, we work on addressing poverty, racial, and economic justice in Miami-Dade County. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, 54% of Miami-Dade County residents, 1.5M people, were either in poverty or the working poor. 

Catalyst often plays the canary in the coal mine. This was true six years ago, when we began addressing the disproportionate impact of climate change on low-wealth communities of color throughout South Florida. We provide free social services and access to income supports to low- and middle-income community members, as well as micro businesses. We pilot new models for economic development grounded in principles of community agency. We offer leadership training programs that build the advocacy skills of our community members on the most critical issues facing our region, from the climate crisis to affordable housing. We fund and provide technical assistance to our leaders’ neighborhood initiatives, from community gardens to disaster relief initiatives. At the same time we host multi-sector organizing tables, inclusive of our leaders, non-profits partners, national experts, and government staff, where we create campaigns and advocacy strategies to achieve policy change.

Our work is innovative because we are a one-stop shop that meets people where they are in their community organizing journey. We understand that many people do not have the bandwidth to become advocates until their basic needs are met. We also understand that those who have struggled to navigate our institutions are also the most well-informed about where changes are most needed. 

Another disruptive aspect of our work is that we organize organizations. Bringing together multi-sector partners to collaboratively craft campaigns has many benefits. It allows us to appear in coalition, rather than in competition. It allows us to move in alignment, rather than unintentionally duplicating efforts. Most importantly, by having our partners work alongside our community leaders, it ensures that equity, social justice, and the concerns of those directly impacted remain central to the wider advocacy ecosystem. 

Lastly, our mini-grant program is an acknowledgement that not all change will come from the top-down, at least at our desired speed. In addition to rooting on-the-ground community-led solutions, it serves as a unique mechanism to build up the recognition of our leaders on a regional and national level. This increases their clout locally and strengthens our policy change capacity.

Our organizational vision is a just and equitable society in which all communities thrive. For this, systems change is necessary. Recently, we launched a children’s savings account initiative for Miami-Dade County Public Schools kindergartener. We pushed Miami-Dade County to change the advanced public input process on their $9B budget from a couple short meetings to an in-depth public process with over 30,000 participants. In addition, we are about to launch a commercial real estate investment cooperative to build wealth among Black families in the City of North Miami. We are also impacting humanity on an individual scale. We support people in meeting their basic needs, and when they’re ready, we embed them into coalitions to solve issues that directly impact them. 

Ultimately, in order to achieve our intended impact we must 1) overturn and reimagine policies based in discrimination that prohibit resilience-building in low wealth communities, 2) play an active role in policies that shape the future, ensuring that they are anchored in equity, and 3) create models of just, sustainable economic growth. We are achieving these through our daily work, and we are effective because we lead with compassion, trust, and transparency amongst our networks.