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Miami Bridge Youth and Family Services Inc. recently announced it has selected Jennifer Buchanan to lead the youth advocacy organization as its new CEO.
“With Jennifer’s extensive nonprofit and corporate business experience, we are confident that she will provide strong leadership to support our continued growth at Miami Bridge,” said Steve Lezman, Miami Bridge’s board president. “She is a celebrated fundraiser and youth advocate with a proven track record at high-performing nonprofit organizations.”
As CEO of Miami Bridge Youth & Family Services, Buchanan will help lead, guide and grow the nonprofit as a critical resource in Miami-Dade County for children ages 10 to 17 facing housing instability, along with the families assisted through its community outreach programs.
With more than 25 years of corporate management and nonprofit experience, Buchanan was most recently executive director of the Florida Fury Hockey Foundation. She founded and spearheaded the startup initiative to success, including fundraising six figures in its initial stages and raising community awareness to promote diversity in hockey.
She is well-versed in the fundamental needs of youth and families facing housing instability. Buchanan previously was the chief development officer at HANDY Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to meeting the needs of Broward County children in foster and relative/non-relative care associated with the child dependency system.
Buchanan continuously surpassed annual fundraising goals. Her 2020 capital campaign secured $100,000 the first week. Buchanan’s involvement in obtaining celebrity in-kind donations helped build the first Miami Heat Learn & Play Center in Broward County, benefiting HANDY’s after-school programming.
Her experience as senior development director at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and director at the American Heart Association helped cultivate relationships with local philanthropists and thought leaders helped increase the reach of the organizations’ missions.
Her volunteer leadership roles include board vice chair of the Sankofa African American 3D Museum. This nonprofit virtual learning place showcases rare collections of historical memorabilia from the 1600s to the 2000s to inspire and educate children of all ages about African American history. Buchanan also served as a former board member of the Pediatric Associates Foundation and the Moss Construction Foundation.
Buchanan is working on her degree in business management, marketing and related support services from Western Governors University.
In 2019, she launched her own consultancy business, Buchanan & Associates, to help local businesses with long-term strategic growth and philanthropy. She resides in Pompano Beach.
Miami Bridge serves as Miami-Dade County’s only 24-hour emergency shelter for children and teens in crisis ages 10-17. For more than three decades, the non-profit organization has worked to rescue youth in the community from lives of victimization and crime by providing refuge, protection and specialized care in a nurturing, stable environment.
Annually, Miami Bridge shelters more than 600 children and teens, providing over 10,000 care days for those individuals, as well as counseling to more than 550 families with children ages 6-17.
For additional information, visit www.miamibridge.org.
