Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council Makes Inroads in The Community

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The Next Virtual Council Meeting Will be June 30 Regarding How to do Business With the City of Miami Beach

 Last year the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) began developing a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council that officially launched February 2020 and is Co-Chaired by Eva Dias (Phoenix Human Capital Solutions, LLC) and Andre Williams (The Law Offices of Andre Williams). The Chamber continues to strive to improve the quality of life for our diverse community and is looking forward to making significant contributions with this new Council.

Diversity and inclusion are core values for the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce and it is critical that we incorporate these values into all aspects of our work including advocacy, communications, workplace environment, vendor selection, hiring, promotion and retention. In order to carry out the Chamber’s core values, the Diversity & Equity Inclusion Committee (“The Committee”) will foster a shared culture at the Chamber that promotes the goals of accepting, respecting and valuing differences that include attributes such as age, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender expression, sexual identity, ability, language, family circumstances and cultural backgrounds.

“I appreciate the support from the Chamber, Board Chair Robin Jacobs and Chamber President & CEO Jerry Libbin for the DE&I Council,” said Williams.  “We understand that economic justice, equality and creating opportunity for people of color is important. These goals can only be achieved by engaging leadership in mainstream organizations like the Chamber to promote diversity, equity and inclusion to its member businesses whose bottom line will grow because of it.”

“The world will be a better place when we recognize that diversity, equity and inclusion are no longer a necessary discussion,” said Dias. “I look forward to the day that our mission is just part of our regular life and that we have completed our Council’s goals through the Chamber.”

“I want to acknowledge Andre and Eva’s leadership as co-chairs,” said Chair of the Board Robin Jacobs. “A diverse workforce means having a greater variety of backgrounds, talents, and experiences that enable businesses to have higher flexibility in adapting to a dynamic global market and it has shown to foster creativity as well as innovation.”

To date the Council has done the following:

  • The Council hosted free webinars that provided valuable information to businesses on effective growth strategies during this time of COVID-19 that included e-commerce, online marketing and social media action plans.  The Miami Gardens Chamber of Commerce and the United Way were sponsors of one of the webinars.
  • On June 30 at 4 PM, the Chamber will host a free webinar on how minority businesses can apply for and receive contracts with the City of Miami Beach. City officials will be present.  Additionally, guest speaker, Connie Kinnard, VP of Multicultural Tourism & Development for the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, will share information on multicultural initiatives within the tourism industry.  
  • In an effort to expand their multicultural efforts, the Council has developed partnerships with other organizations and government entities such as the City of Miami Beach’s procurement department, the Brazilian Consulate and the Multicultural Tourism & Development division of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau.
  • In the months ahead, this Council will focus on ways to create greater economic opportunities for minority owned businesses in and around Miami Beach.

For more information on the Chamber or the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council and to join the next council meeting, please e-mail Danny Diaz at danny@miamibeachchamber.com or visit www.miamibeachchamber.com.


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1 COMMENT

  1. We owned a home in Florida for over 25 years but moved back up north so we could be closer to grand children. This is the reason I am writing to you. My wife and I booked a cruise to the Greek Isles for our 52 wedding anniversary back in March of 2019 with Oceania Cruise lines. The cruise was to depart May 15-2020. The cost of the cruise was $11,700. We are both 74 and my wife is a diabetic which put us in the high risk category to get the virus. In February 2020 cruise ships were a breeding ground for the virus and not being allowed to dock at ports. We cancelled our booking with Oceania on March 2/2020 due to the Virus outbreak. They refused to refund all our money and kept $2,899 as a penalty for cancelling. I have lots of letters, E-mails and phone transcripts to Oceania that I questioned the safety of the cruise well before cancelling and got the same message to be patient we will keep you informed of any changes. It got apparent that all they were concerned about was loosing our booking. I got tired of their lack of concern for our well-being. As of 6/11/2020 they still refused to give us our money back. Beware of Oceania Cruises as you also may get ripped off. We are seniors and I am a Vietnam veteran who has been taken advantage of.

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