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As a finalist, the City of Miami Gardens has the opportunity to nominate a youth leader for the 2020 All-America City John Parr Youth Award. This award exemplifies the All-America City criteria of impact, inclusiveness, innovation, collaboration and civic engagement.
Meet Our Youth Award Nominee: Elettlia Addison-Phelps
Elettlia Addison-Phelps (aka Ellie) is 17 years old and is a graduating senior at Miami Carol City Senior High School. She is top 10% of her class and a participant in Law Magnet and IPREP. She is a hardworking and a humble “Honors Student.”
Ellie is currently the Mayor of Miami Garden’s Junior Council where she is helping to keep her community safe and cultivate connections with the youth and adults in our community.
She is also a member of the Miami Gardens Police Explorer Post 150 for four (4) years. She was a Silver Knight Nominee in the area of Social Science in 2020. She is the Vice-President of a club called Students Working Against Tobacco (S.W.A.T.) and served as Class Secretary during her 10th grade year; Secretary of Junior Council during her 11th grade year; and was Class President during her Senior year. Ellie has also participated in several community cleanup projects and volunteers to help residents rebuild their lives who were affected by a building fire by collecting and distributing clothing, food, and other products to people who were displaced by the fire.
Ellie is the founder of a non-profit organization by the name of “Beauty Beyond the Streets,” a project that helps the community. This project is directed towards homeless women that are primarily living in the streets due to various difficulties that prohibit them from obtaining a shelter to place over their head. Her mission is to collect women hygiene products and beauty products that are distributed to homeless women in her community.
Ellie has worked tirelessly to collect hygiene items for homeless women. She has reached out to local stores and businesses. Ellie relies solely on the efforts and donations from the residents and businesses in her community. Her goal is to “help women improve their self-esteem by providing feminine hygiene items so they feel “fresh and clean”. In December 2018, Ellie partnered with the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executive (NOBLE), South Florida Chapter for a holiday drive and collected over 400 women’s hygiene items. The items were later distributed to homeless women in the South Florida area. Ellie has also made efforts to collect items during the school year at her school. The message she says is to teach students to have compassion for the less fortunate people. Ellie is the recipient of the “Phenomenal Young Lady Award” and was also nominated for student of the month. In April 2019, Ellie won an essay competition sponsored by the Homeless Trust Foundation where she shared her own obstacles of being homeless at a young age that triggered her to start Beauty Beyond The Streets.
