there I organized a group of parents and started a group called Families in Touch where parents and I learned parenting skills and how to become more effective advocates.” Colyer has served on numerous boards and memberships including the Human Services Coalition, Overtown Advisory Board, Women’s Chamber of Commerce, League of Women Voters, and Our Kids. “I know what service means and will strive to make sure that all community services provide results and solutions,” she says. Colyer understands the relationship between strong communities and small business. An owner of several businesses including a transportation company in Liberty City and a cookie store based in Hialeah, Colyer reminds us that, “businesses want to be able to make money. This happens when two critical factors take place. Communities must be safe and clean. Safe and clean communities cultivate business development and the jobs that come with it. We can provide those neighborhoods. I have written and received grants to do just that in some of our largest housing complexes including Liberty Square, Edison and Culmer Gardens. Community Oriented Policing programs work. Clean neighborhoods are accomplished through holding all sectors of municipal government accountable from elected officials to staff.” A trained Community Organizer, Colyer believes in working together. “There are already many valuable organizations in the community. It is my intention to add more. I will organize coalitions so that we are on the same page. I will hold regular inter agency meetings, with rotating chairs and agendas that reflect common and current concerns. We will invite officials, county, state and federal to ask them to identify the best practices and innovative solutions that they are providing for our community so efforts will be coordinated and not duplicated. The networks are in place. Now is the time to get communities involved. I have and will continue to create and manage coalitions. The communities I have served are very diverse including African-American, Latino, Haitian American and Anglo. I know how to create linkages between my community and others.” Jacqui Colyer has been married to her one true love Roy for 27 years, and he supports her in every way possible. “He is a 33 degree Mason and one of the best Pinochle players in Miami,” said Colyer. “I am very proud of my grandsons, Jordan, Justin, and Brandon. I am an avid reader and would like to suggest that everyone read one of my favorite books, ‘The Warmth of Other Suns,’ by Isabel Wilkerson. It’s a book about the great migration of African Americans from the South. Truly a remarkable read.” A member of the Universal Truth Center, Colyer believes, “like Esther of the Old Testament that ‘I am here for such a time as this.’ Everything that I have done has prepared me to be the servant leader of District 5.”
tive prevention programs for children. “There is not enough funding for important youth programming such as after school and summer camp programs for every child in Dade County,” said Colyer. “I want to make sure that every child has a safe, supervised program that offers homework assistance and enrichment activities. We need to focus on providing assistance to families and getting the church involved.” Colyers’ life work has always been about service. It was during her time with the Department of Juvenile Services she realized that she had a gift for helping families. “The experience taught me the importance of service to my community. I went on to work for Big Brothers and Big Sisters and became a professor at Miami-Dade College winning awards for Social Science and Teacher of the Year twice.” As Director of Resident Services for the housing department of Miami-Dade County, Colyer worked with more than 40,000 residents to provide social services to both the Elderly Housing and Family Housing departments. To provide for the needs of a community, you must first understand the challenges that people face every day. “My family and I moved into Scott Homes to learn from the residents how to better serve the community,” said Colyer. “While
Political advertisement paid for and approved by Jacqui Colyer for City of Miami Commissioner District 5