23 Jan

After a tussle over semantics, Miami city commissioners delay approval of housing plan

Posted by in Affordable Housing, PACT

January 23, 2020. The Miami Herald.

After a heated tussle over semantics and the legal repercussions of the words “approval” versus “acknowledgment,” the Miami City Commission on Thursday voted unanimously to accept the Miami Affordable Housing Master Plan prepared by Florida International University and reconvene at a special session at 10 a.m. on Jan. 31 to dig into its findings.

The wording on the meeting agenda asked the commissioners to vote on “approving” the master plan and authorizing the city manager to “negotiate and execute” all necessary documents related to the plan. The vote would have incorporated the plan “effective immediately.”

Read More “After a tussle over semantics, Miami city commissioners delay approval of housing plan”
29 Aug

Identification cards for undocumented immigrants? A Miami-Dade group is working on it

Posted by in Minority Rights, PACT

August 29, 2019. Miami Herald.

Francis Tume, 26, moved to Miami from Peru with his family when he was 6. When he got a Florida driver’s license seven years ago, that was a big deal.

Tume got his license after enrolling in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program in 2012 — and the card has made things easier for him both on and off the road.

He knows that because he has seen his undocumented parents, who lack identification, struggle with routine parts of life, like filling prescriptions at the pharmacy and even picking him up at school when he was younger.

Read More “Identification cards for undocumented immigrants? A Miami-Dade group is working on it”
16 Mar

Here’s a movement to stop gun violence in our own backyard

Posted by in PACT, Racial Justice

March 16, 2018. The Miami Herald.

The issue of guns has filled our thoughts, prayers, conversations, and debates.

With over 680 people shot in Miami-Dade in 2016 and the unwavering average of 200 people shot and killed each year since 2011 in our community, there is a crisis that begs for intervention.

A year ago, members from People Acting for Community Together (PACT) asked the Miami-Dade, Miami and Miami Gardens police to seriously research three gun violence intervention program and choose one for implementation.

We are proud of our police departments for doing just that. They chose: John Jay College’s Group Violence Intervention program (GVI).

Read More “Here’s a movement to stop gun violence in our own backyard”
24 Apr

Miami’s working-class neighborhoods organize to reject gentrification

Posted by in Affordable Housing, PACT

April 24, 2017. The Architects Newspaper.

Across Miami-Dade County, organizations like Miami Homes For All (MHFA), Struggle for Miami’s Affordable and Sustainable Housing (SMASH), Miami’s People Acting for Community Together (PACT), and Fanm Ayisyen nan Miyami (FANM), among others, have been instrumental in launching affordability campaigns across threatened and economically distressed neighborhoods. In the process, these groups are lending a voice to many of the Miami working-class communities as the forces of gentrification and luxury development rewrite the region’s urban fabric.

Read More “Miami’s working-class neighborhoods organize to reject gentrification”

31 Mar

Law enforcement community pledges to implement new gun violence prevention program

Posted by in PACT, Racial Justice

March 31, 2017. ABC 10 News.

MIAMI-DADE, FL – Law enforcement agencies in Miami-Dade recently pledged to give a new model designed to reduce gun violence a try. They will be working with People Acting for Community Together, a network of faith-based groups and academics.

During a gathering they called The Nehemiah Action Assembly, Rev. Ana Jackson, of Sellers Memorial United Methodist Church, said that in Miami-Dade a small group is responsible for the gun violence that is hurting the community.

Read More “Law enforcement community pledges to implement new gun violence prevention program”