Eileen Higgins believes that Miami-Dade can be the best place to live on Earth, “if we come together to solve our pressing problems.” The Community Newspapers believe if she is elected to the District 5 seat of the Miami-Dade County Commission, we may actually achieve this dream.
On Election Day, June 19, residents will have an opportunity to vote for Higgins – and we strongly recommend they do – in District 5, which extends from Downtown and parts of Miami Beach, to Little Havana, Brickell, The Roads, Silver Bluff, and Shenandoah.
We like the fact that Higgins has been an effective advocate for fostering entrepreneurship among high school students, breaking the school-to-prison pipeline through expanded use of civil citations, and bringing innovative intervention programs into neighborhoods affected by gun violence.
We also like the fact that Higgins is herself a business owner and community advocate who works closely with local organizations to address the many issues facing our community. She owns and operates a firm that helps local entrepreneurs and small businesses grow their companies in Florida and beyond. She even teaches small business owners how to expand their start-ups.
And she is more than qualified to do so because she’s had a long career, first as an engineer working in heavy-duty manufacturing. Higgins even served as a Peace Corps Country Director in Belize and as a diplomat in the U.S. State Department in Mexico and Southern Africa. She earned her MBA from Cornell University, which is pretty impressive, indeed.
But it is the long list of local community service that mostly catches our eye. In Miami-Dade County, she is active with Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, People Acting for Community Together, the Miami Downtown Neighbors Alliance, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, Miami Climate Alliance, the Sierra Club, and the League of Women Voters of Miami-Dade County
On the issues you’ll find her strongly siding with those in our community who also advocate for sensible and reliable traffic and transit solutions; and with leaders who fight for higher-paying jobs and ways by which we can attract more entrepreneurs and fresh ideas for the County.
Higgins also wants to work for reasonable solutions to our out-of-control rent. She wants to advocate for the LGBTQ residents of the county – especially by banning the repugnant practice of conversion therapy here; and work on addressing chronic homelessness.
She will take seriously the threat of sea-level rise, make sure we make environmentally smart investments that conserve taxpayer dollars and our natural resources; and stop the sale of guns on County property and at our Youth Fairgrounds.
A qualified candidate with this much passion for our community doesn’t come along too often – certainly not often enough. Let’s make sure we don’t lose this opportunity. Vote for Eileen Higgins on June 19.
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