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Community Leaders Graduate, Receive Seed Money, and are Awarded with Certificates of Recognition at The Board of County Commissioners Meeting
Be Strong International held a free eight weeklong leadership training program. This free
program consisted of over 25 participants from Districts 8 and 9. The program was available to community leaders, local nonprofits, business owners, and other residents looking to serve and help the community.
The goal was to build cohesion amongst community members despite their differences, equip and activate them to better serve their communities and grow their projects. The workshops included guest speakers and provided training on community values and culture, leadership skills, fundraising/resources and more. Participants will now put the tools they learned to the test to plan a Back-to-School Community Event where all community leaders, government officials, and local organization leaders will come together to give back to South Dade communities.
“We believe that we are stronger together, as these trainings had an emphasis on connecting the South Dade community leaders to different funders, consultants and other possible partners that will help them increase the impact they have in the community.”, said Juan Camargo, Special Projects Outreach Liaison. “We invited different speakers, representatives from The Miami Foundation and The Children’s Trust, as well as experts in different fields related to non-profits that were willing to support and connect with the
participants even after the program ended”.
For the first time ever, Be Strong International was able to do something they had never done before; be a source of funding for the community. Several outstanding participants were selected to receive a stipend to support their own community projects.
“Thirty years serving the community is an amazing accomplishment for us. It was important for us to evolve in how we scaled impact for the next thirty years! We decided that local non-profits in the community of Goulds and surrounding neighborhoods may not ever get the resources and training needed to further their
mission. Many of them were small, just starting to gain traction and many needed financial and educational support.”, said Michelle Shirley, CEO and Chief Heart Officer of Be Strong International. “We are excited to announce that we had 28 organizations participate in the program and 26 graduates. Of those graduates, 14 received a small financial gift to support their work! This was the perfect time for Be Strong International to give back to the community in a collaborative and innovative way and we are super proud of what we
have done!”
Michelle Shirley adds, “Typically, you only see foundations and corporations give “seed money” to non- profits. We always dare to be different and exceptional in what we do. We hope to give away even more money to amazing organizations that may never be recognized on a larger scale. Our desire is to give them hope that someone sees them and cares about the great strides that they are making in our most vulnerable communities, and we hope non-profit organizations that are larger than us, see our model and join us! No single organization can move the needle in our communities alone, it truly take a village and a heart to share resources. I couldn’t be happier with all that we have accomplished!”
To top off the end of this incredible program, the graduates had the great honor of being invited by Commissioner Kionne McGhee from District 9, to attend the Board of County Commissioners Meeting where the graduates were presented with certificates at the Commission Chambers.
For donations, visit https://bit.ly/3v6EpM6
For more information and updates, follow Be Strong International on social media @bestrongintl or through their website https://bestrongintl.org
For inquiries about the leadership training program or to arrange an interview, contact Monika Sanchez at monika@bestrongintl.org or Nathalia Tasama at nathalia@bestrongintl.org
