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Be Strong International conducted a free eight weeklong leadership training
program, which 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 among 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 now will 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 it
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 30
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!”
Shirley added, “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 were invited by
Commissioner Kionne McGhee from District 9 to attend the county
commission meeting where the graduates were presented with certificates.
For donations, visit https://bit.ly/3v6EpM6.
For more information and updates, follow Be Strong International on social
media @bestrongintl or through the website at https://bestrongintl.org.
For more Miami news go to www.communitynewspapers.com
