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Strides in Leadership
For me to be an effective policy maker, and in order to mitigate challenges and issues, I have to hear from the people. I have to hear what’s working and what’s not working, and find solutions.
My first months in office were spent connecting with residents. I also announced some board vacancies, including on the Parks and Recreation board, allowing residents the opportunity to join and become more involved in the operations of their City.
I hosted the “No Small Business Left Behind” town hall meeting to hear from the business community about their needs and concerns. We had about fifty-eight (58) participants and I was able to have one-on-one talks with them. My entire staff was present, as was the City Manager, Assistant City Manager, along with representatives from the Code Enforcement and Police Departments. The Procurement Department also provided an overview of the process to become a City vendor, so that all businesses have an equal opportunity to potentially do business with the City of Miami Gardens.
The information gathered from the town hall resulted in my office establishing a grant program based on the Cares Act, and Miami-Dade County Commissioner and Vice Chairman Oliver Gilbert was gracious enough to match the funds. It’s important to remove barriers to access because, for people of color, it appears that there are barriers everywhere. We have to be creative and help business owners in their efforts to make payroll, keep workers employed, hire people and put the appropriate safety tools in place at their businesses. This program is about providing support to that person paying for a chair at a barbershop or a beauty salon. This is grant money that does not need to be paid back. We received sixty-three (63) applications and they are currently being processed for payments to go out in April.
Health is the New Wealth
Being African-American, it is so important to ensure our community is aware of health factors that affect us at a higher rate. I did a month-long health campaign in February called “What’s Cooking with Councilwoman Linda Julien.” I brought in dietitians, and we put together a recipe, then sent it out to our residents so they could purchase the ingredients and cook along with us. This well-attended series, which I will continue every month, provides us the opportunity to do something together, and eat healthy together.
The other conversation we had was on fibroids. Women of color are affected by this more commonly than our counterparts. I had an OBGYN addressing the importance of knowing your body and seeing your doctor.
Residents received information about resources that are available in the event an individual does not have health coverage. Our outreach also included a day where people who came into one of our partner clinics to get vaccinated for COVID-19 were able to do a physical and health screening, and we had great turnout. Health is the new wealth!
COVID-19 Vaccines
Miami Gardens has done an extraordinary job at providing vaccines. We’ve had a few vaccination events, really pushing the importance of this effort to get COVID-19 under control. After a year, folks are ready for this thing to go away. So many businesses have had to close their doors, there’s been a rise in mental health challenges, COVID-19 suicide numbers are going up, and it’s scary. So my message to our residents is, “We don’t know the end date, but don’t stop living.” That means spending as much as time with your family as you responsibly can, and traveling responsibly. Your mental health is everything. If that means taking a road trip with your children or maybe just sightseeing in the car, just do it.
But make sure to wear those masks, social distance, get your vaccine and take those precautions. Hopefully this time next year our country will have moved towards normalcy.
