(Photo by Adrian Freeman)
Goodwill Ambassador Project manager Yvans Morisseau and the Office of Community Advocacy are the 2018 recipient of the South Florida Chapter of the American Society for Public Administrators (ASPA) Community Advocacy Award. The ASPA annual awards reception will take place on June 21 at 6 p.m.
The Goodwill Ambassador Program under the Office of Community Advocacy is made up of volunteer county employees who work as ambassadors during large events, demonstrations, rallies, and elections. Morisseau makes sure more than 200 volunteers receive annual training covering crowd control, customer service, mediation, conflict resolution, and crisis management. There also is specific training before deployments.
The volunteers serve at the request of the Office of the Mayor or Office of the Chair. The Office of Community Advocacy is charged with making Miami-Dade County “One Community” that embraces its diverse and unique population.
Morisseau holds a bachelor’s degree from the Audrey Cohen School of Human Services, Metropolitan College of New York. He has been an American Red Cross volunteer since 1992, and served as its chair for the Disaster Service Volunteers Brooklyn Chapter from 1993 through 1998.
He co-founded the Haitian American Business Network and works in partnership with American Red Cross, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Miami Dade County Office of Community Advocacy to implement a Disaster Preparedness plan for the Haitian-American community and the disadvantaged communities of Florida. He chairs the Haitian American Emergency Relief Committee and is a member of United Front of the Haitian Diaspora Disaster Relief Committee.
As an active member of the Haitian American Grassroots Coalition, he often travels to Washington, DC, to advocate on behalf the Haitian Community at the Hemispheric Civil Society Forum of the Organization of American States (OAS). Morisseau is also the recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Award.
