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A Wonderful Feeling
It’s a wonderful feeling to have more restaurants and businesses looking to move here, including Publix, who is considering building another location within the City. They see the value in Miami Gardens and they want to be here.
Growing our homeownership rate is a priority of mine. Miami Gardens has a down payment assistance program to help our residents become homeowners through the use of State Housing Initiative Program (SHIP) funds. Residents may access information on this program and other types of assistance through our Community Development Department.
We’ve also partnered with some local contractors to build homes right here in Miami Gardens. The objective is to create more home ownership opportunities for people looking to move back to the City, and also for people who grew up here who would now like to purchase a home. These are affordable homes that buyers can purchase brand-new in the City of Miami Gardens.
COVID-19 forced us to speed up our transition to some enhanced technological platforms we had planned for the long-term, but we had to readjust our plans to provide ongoing services to our residents during the pandemic, and that was a good thing. We’ve been able to enhance our Building and Code Enforcement services through technology. Now, when it comes to permitting, you don’t even have to come down to City Hall. You can process your permit requests online, from wherever you are.
COVID-19 Vaccines
We developed an initiative for senior citizens and others in Miami Gardens who aren’t tech savvy. We used my office and the offices of the other Council members as hubs to gather data. We collected information from anyone, of eligible age, who called and wanted to be vaccinated, and we scheduled appointments for them at Jessie Trice Health System. We transported over five hundred seniors to Jessie Trice for that reason. Our residents are familiar with that facility since they go there on a normal basis. Who better to give them the vaccine than people with whom they are familiar. Jesse Trice is opening up a brand new location on NW 207th Street and NW 27th Avenue to provide services to the entire Miami Gardens community. People without health insurance will still be able to get visits with pediatricians to cardiologists, or get dental work done.
We’re also in the beginning stages of a partnership with the WorldSafe1st group out of Delaware. This is a group that engages black doctors and nurses who will administer vaccines to Miami Gardens’ residents. We know, from talking to the community, that people are scared of the vaccine. So we thought it would be best to partner with people who look like us to discuss an initiative that could offer some help. We are anticipating to do up to 4500 vaccinations per week at this site once it is up and running. More details will be provided about this vaccination site at a later date.
There is so much in the pipeline. This pandemic has exposed the health care disparities that we face as African-Americans. We want to make sure that our residents have this information. We’re staying on top of COVID-19 and making sure we’re at the forefront of combating it.
