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AN INDEPENDENT SUPPLEMENT BY MIA MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS GROUP TO MIAMI HERALD
MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2016
MIAMI DADE COUNTY CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
By Chairman Jean Monestime
Tackling Gun Violence is Key to Prosperity
Chairman Jean Monestime, District 2
Miami Dade County
Board of County Commissioners
Advancing policies to provide for greater
prosperity across all income brackets has
been my primary focus as Chairman of the
Miami-Dade County Commission. I am
grateful to my colleagues for the many
advances we have made – including
“banning the box” on employment
applications pertaining to criminal history,
increasing health benefits for our Living
Wage workers, streamlining a low-interest
second mortgage program for first-time
homebuyers earning up to $67,340 and
cutting transit fares for riders earning up to
$23,760 a year.
The focus on greater prosperity has
captured the imagination of the academic
community. The Metropolitan Center at
Florida International University recently
published the “Prosperity Initiatives
Feasibility Study” commissioned by the
Chairman’s Council for Prosperity Initiatives,
which I lead along with my colleagues
Commissioners Barbara Jordan and Daniella
Levine Cava. The study identified more
policy initiatives to reduce disparities and
reverse some of the economic trends that
reduce our competitiveness. As state and
federal officials craft policies to rebuild the
middle class in Florida and across the
country, we need to work in tandem to
improve our local economy. This study gives
us valuable guidance.
Though I am delighted with the broad
support of the prosperity agenda, it all
means absolutely nothing to the young
victims of gun violence. The Children’s
Defense Fund reports that homicide is the
top cause of death for young black men, and
black children and teens were 17 times more
likely to die from a gun as a white child of the
same age. In the last 15 months, 46 children
and youth have been killed in Miami-Dade
County, according to the April 2016
Children’s Trust Youth Violence Prevention
Report. There can be no prosperity for a
community where children are killing
children.
While the death statistics reveal a
concentration of tragedies in the urban core,
solving this problem is a responsibility that
belongs to all of us. I recently met with the
chairs of the Miami City Commission, the
School Board and the Children’s Trust to
discuss a collaborative effort. We all agree
that we must all contribute resources to
support a long-term, community-led effort to
engage the highly at-risk youth who are
engaging in this gun violence.
The City of Richmond, California was once
considered one of the nation’s most
dangerous cities in the nation, with a
homicide rate of 45.9 per 100,000 residents.
The street outreach efforts and fellowship
programs for violent youth initiated by the
city in 2007 contributed to a significant
reduction in gun violence, as the city
recently experienced its lowest level of
homicides in 33 years (14.9 per 100,000
residents). This may be a model worth
emulating.
Studies by the Ann E. Casey Foundation
regarding community change support the
notion that transformation is possible if we
rely on locally led efforts. The solution
cannot be imposed by outside agencies. The
body politic has a responsibility to provide
the resources and measure the outcomes,
but the implementation must be in the
community’s hands. We need to
collaborate with other government agencies
to formulate a long-term funding plan and
develop a framework to allow a locally led
youth gun violence initiative to develop
from within the community. Such action is
needed now, because true prosperity will
come to Miami-Dade County when all our
youth can hope and dream of a brighter
future.
www.miamidade.gov/district02
Legacy Miami 40 Under 40 Cover Photo
Honorees on cover from left to right: Devona Reynolds-Perez, Kilan Assad-Bishop,
Tyrone Manning, Marquita Moore, Dr. Nkume Sobe Jr., Marcus Majors, Carlton Ford,
Christopher Simmonds, Johanne Pradel Wilson, Javid Hepburn
Cover Mural: Music Alive
34’ X 80’ by Addonis Parker
Located in Historic Overtown on NW 11th
St., and 3rd Ave., Miami, FL
www.addonisparker.com
Addonis Parker
Cover Photographer: Teekay