This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em><\/p>\n","post_title":"Criminal justice reform a priority for Fernandez Pryor","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"criminal-justice-reform-a-priority-for-fernandez-pryor","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_modified_gmt":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=823","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":802,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 18:14:11","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 18:14:11","post_content":"
Da-Venya Armstrong, president of\u00a0Armstrong Creative Consulting, has helped\u00a0thousands of Black elders in Miami-Dade\u00a0County receive COVID-19 vaccines.<\/span><\/h5>\n
If you are Black and you, a friend or a relative have received a COVID-19 vaccine, it\u2019s likely that you have Da-Venya Armstrong to thank. The communications and community outreach guru has exponentially increased the number of Black residents getting vaccines by laun<\/span>ching and overseeing a faith-based outreach program. More than 8,000 people have been vaccinated as a result and her client, Jackson Health System, has gone from being criticized to celebrated.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
I always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Armstrong\u2019s ties to church and community began 25 years ago, when Bishop Victor Curry took the pulpit at New Birth Baptist Church to announce that he had purchased a radio station, WMBM, and would take to the airwaves. That announcement changed Armstrong\u2019s life and launched her career. \u201cIt was like the sky lit up for me,\u201d she said. <\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since then, the 46-year-old businesswoman has embodied Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s dream by giving back to her community through time spent working at WMBM and growing her company, Armstrong Creative Consulting (ACC).<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Carol City native was one of three daughters. Her mother, a licensed practical nurse, worked 18 to 24 hours per day. Armstrong recalls being raised \u201cby a village\u201d when her mother wasn\u2019t home; her aunt Connie and neighbors sometimes stepped in to care for all three kids. \u201cThey understood that my mom was working a lot,\u201d said Armstrong. \u201cMy mother was doing everything she could to raise us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Because she considered herself a middle-of-the-road student at Hialeah Miami Lakes High School, Armstrong got to work. Seeing classmates outside of her demographic getting into higher-level courses inspired her to do better. \u201cI wanted to have better opportunities, so I pushed myself,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n
Armstrong attended Miami Dade College and the University of Miami, majoring in broadcast journalism because as a kid, she loved listening to gospel station WMBM with her grandmother. In 1995, not long after that fateful announcement at the church, the station was rebuilt from the ground up. Armstrong became news director, public service director, administrative assistant and traffic director, all while doing a morning show, \u201cMorning Glory with Bishop and Da-Venya,\u201d with Curry. Her mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer around the same time. She went into remission, but six years later the cancer came back. Armstrong resigned from WMBM to care for her.<\/span><\/p>\n
By then she had gained a thorough understanding of how churches operate through her work at WMBM. If major companies could do business at a higher level, she thought, so could houses of worship. After her mother died in 2000, Armstrong took a leap of faith and started ACC. She began by speaking to small businesses and churches.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cIt was all word of mouth, convincing them that I could help promote their businesses to the communities they needed to reach,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was six years of piecing together one person, one business and one church at a time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Her big break came in 2008, when The Children\u2019s Trust\u2019s reauthorization campaign hired her as a deputy campaign manager. \u201cIt was an opportunity I\u2019ll never forget,\u201d she said. \u201cIt took my business from A to Z.\u201d Today, Armstrong also works on community outreach for the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust. \u201cThat work is beyond significant to me,\u201d she said. \u201cI always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
She then began working with James Jones, a former Miami Heat basketball player, with whom she established The James Jones Legacy Foundation. The organization helps to provide children with positive role models. She serves as executive director.<\/span><\/p>\n
The Children\u2019s Trust, a client now for more than a decade, is another entity Armstrong promotes to connect Black children and families to available programs and services. Community activist Jacqui Colyer has seen ACC\u2019s founder grow up to become the professional she is today.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she talks about things, she actually gets them done,\u201d Colyer said. \u201cShe figures it out and brings two people together so that they can live their dreams.\u201d Armstrong says her past has created steppingstones to do better in the present. \u201cHaving been a young girl born and raised in the \u2019hood,\u201d she said, \u201call I could do was dream.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n
This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","post_title":"Faith and community drive Da-Venya Armstrong","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"faith-and-community-drive-da-venya-armstrong","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-02-24 07:07:44","post_modified_gmt":"2022-02-24 07:07:44","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=802","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"total_page":false},"paged":1,"class":"jblog_block_24"};
Nationally recognized litigator Eugene K. Pettis \u2013 named the Florida Bar\u2019s first Black president in 2013 \u2013 is one of them. He met Fernandez Pryor around 2011 and became a mentor. \u201cHe\u2019s always been a very bright young man, driven toward excellence,\u201d Pettis said. \u201cI think he\u2019s bringing a refreshed vision to the state attorney\u2019s office. He brings a new perspective both generationally and because he has walked as an African American gentleman growing up here in Florida.\u201d
Fernandez Pryor plans to make the system more \u201cjust and fair\u201d by adding diversion programs, increasing resources for juveniles and retooling mental health courts to become \u201ctherapeutic instead of adversarial.\u201d He says his vision is led by Martin Luther King Jr. \u201cOne of Dr. King\u2019s most driving quotes was, \u2018Life\u2019s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?\u2019\u201d said Pryor. \u201cHe\u2019s inspired me to get up, do something and be proactive.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em><\/p>\n","post_title":"Criminal justice reform a priority for Fernandez Pryor","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"criminal-justice-reform-a-priority-for-fernandez-pryor","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_modified_gmt":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=823","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":802,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 18:14:11","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 18:14:11","post_content":"
Da-Venya Armstrong, president of\u00a0Armstrong Creative Consulting, has helped\u00a0thousands of Black elders in Miami-Dade\u00a0County receive COVID-19 vaccines.<\/span><\/h5>\n
If you are Black and you, a friend or a relative have received a COVID-19 vaccine, it\u2019s likely that you have Da-Venya Armstrong to thank. The communications and community outreach guru has exponentially increased the number of Black residents getting vaccines by laun<\/span>ching and overseeing a faith-based outreach program. More than 8,000 people have been vaccinated as a result and her client, Jackson Health System, has gone from being criticized to celebrated.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
I always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Armstrong\u2019s ties to church and community began 25 years ago, when Bishop Victor Curry took the pulpit at New Birth Baptist Church to announce that he had purchased a radio station, WMBM, and would take to the airwaves. That announcement changed Armstrong\u2019s life and launched her career. \u201cIt was like the sky lit up for me,\u201d she said. <\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since then, the 46-year-old businesswoman has embodied Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s dream by giving back to her community through time spent working at WMBM and growing her company, Armstrong Creative Consulting (ACC).<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Carol City native was one of three daughters. Her mother, a licensed practical nurse, worked 18 to 24 hours per day. Armstrong recalls being raised \u201cby a village\u201d when her mother wasn\u2019t home; her aunt Connie and neighbors sometimes stepped in to care for all three kids. \u201cThey understood that my mom was working a lot,\u201d said Armstrong. \u201cMy mother was doing everything she could to raise us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Because she considered herself a middle-of-the-road student at Hialeah Miami Lakes High School, Armstrong got to work. Seeing classmates outside of her demographic getting into higher-level courses inspired her to do better. \u201cI wanted to have better opportunities, so I pushed myself,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n
Armstrong attended Miami Dade College and the University of Miami, majoring in broadcast journalism because as a kid, she loved listening to gospel station WMBM with her grandmother. In 1995, not long after that fateful announcement at the church, the station was rebuilt from the ground up. Armstrong became news director, public service director, administrative assistant and traffic director, all while doing a morning show, \u201cMorning Glory with Bishop and Da-Venya,\u201d with Curry. Her mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer around the same time. She went into remission, but six years later the cancer came back. Armstrong resigned from WMBM to care for her.<\/span><\/p>\n
By then she had gained a thorough understanding of how churches operate through her work at WMBM. If major companies could do business at a higher level, she thought, so could houses of worship. After her mother died in 2000, Armstrong took a leap of faith and started ACC. She began by speaking to small businesses and churches.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cIt was all word of mouth, convincing them that I could help promote their businesses to the communities they needed to reach,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was six years of piecing together one person, one business and one church at a time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Her big break came in 2008, when The Children\u2019s Trust\u2019s reauthorization campaign hired her as a deputy campaign manager. \u201cIt was an opportunity I\u2019ll never forget,\u201d she said. \u201cIt took my business from A to Z.\u201d Today, Armstrong also works on community outreach for the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust. \u201cThat work is beyond significant to me,\u201d she said. \u201cI always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
She then began working with James Jones, a former Miami Heat basketball player, with whom she established The James Jones Legacy Foundation. The organization helps to provide children with positive role models. She serves as executive director.<\/span><\/p>\n
The Children\u2019s Trust, a client now for more than a decade, is another entity Armstrong promotes to connect Black children and families to available programs and services. Community activist Jacqui Colyer has seen ACC\u2019s founder grow up to become the professional she is today.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she talks about things, she actually gets them done,\u201d Colyer said. \u201cShe figures it out and brings two people together so that they can live their dreams.\u201d Armstrong says her past has created steppingstones to do better in the present. \u201cHaving been a young girl born and raised in the \u2019hood,\u201d she said, \u201call I could do was dream.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n
This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","post_title":"Faith and community drive Da-Venya Armstrong","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"faith-and-community-drive-da-venya-armstrong","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-02-24 07:07:44","post_modified_gmt":"2022-02-24 07:07:44","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=802","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"total_page":false},"paged":1,"class":"jblog_block_24"};
Those resources, he said, can help improve mental health and rehabilitate those addicted to drugs, preventing a dangerous cycle of reincarceration. When they aren\u2019t made available, it can be difficult to break free from the \u201crevolving door\u201d of the system. Fernandez Pryor vowed to get involved and make a difference. \u201cThis all had a profound effect on me,\u201d he said, \u201c[which led to me] saying, \u2018OK, why not just be a part of the system to try to remedy it and fix it from within?\u201d
Pryor, 34, won election as Broward County state attorney this past November, defeating Gregg Rossman. In doing so he became not only Broward County\u2019s first Black state attorney, but also Florida\u2019s first Black male state attorney. In his new position, he hopes to spur change through criminal justice reform and connecting with the community.
Fernandez Pryor was born on Jan. 17, 1987. His father was a state corrections officer; his mother, an assistant city clerk. Due to his dad\u2019s profession, Fernandez Pryor learned all about the corrections system before graduating from Pasco High School in 2005. He went on to briefly play defensive back for the University of Florida while pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. He graduated in 2009 and then attended the Shepard Broad College of Law at Nova Southeastern University, graduating in 2012. In 2014, he took a job as a Broward County assistant state attorney, serving for three years. \u201cThe greatest impact of the job was getting to be in the room while there were important discussions going on that were impacting people of color and poor people\u2019s lives ... being able to be that last line of reason, defense or understanding,\u201d Fernandez Pryor shared.
He went into private practice in 2017, before deciding to run for the top prosecutor job. His win was impressive. His opponent, an experienced Republican litigator, has more than 25 years of experience in the field. He\u2019s also two decades older than Pryor. But as the Sun Sentinel pointed out in its endorsement of Pryor, the \u201cbetter r\u00e9sum\u00e9\u201d doesn\u2019t always matter, especially when a candidate brings fresh ideas, a new perspective and diverse experience.
Fernandez Pryor won the election by almost 250,000 votes, thanks in part to the support of local activists, some of whom have been visible since the 1940s. \u201cI know they expect me to do big things and to be the change,\" he said. \u201cI\u2019m truly standing on the shoulders of giants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nationally recognized litigator Eugene K. Pettis \u2013 named the Florida Bar\u2019s first Black president in 2013 \u2013 is one of them. He met Fernandez Pryor around 2011 and became a mentor. \u201cHe\u2019s always been a very bright young man, driven toward excellence,\u201d Pettis said. \u201cI think he\u2019s bringing a refreshed vision to the state attorney\u2019s office. He brings a new perspective both generationally and because he has walked as an African American gentleman growing up here in Florida.\u201d
Fernandez Pryor plans to make the system more \u201cjust and fair\u201d by adding diversion programs, increasing resources for juveniles and retooling mental health courts to become \u201ctherapeutic instead of adversarial.\u201d He says his vision is led by Martin Luther King Jr. \u201cOne of Dr. King\u2019s most driving quotes was, \u2018Life\u2019s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?\u2019\u201d said Pryor. \u201cHe\u2019s inspired me to get up, do something and be proactive.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em><\/p>\n","post_title":"Criminal justice reform a priority for Fernandez Pryor","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"criminal-justice-reform-a-priority-for-fernandez-pryor","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_modified_gmt":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=823","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":802,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 18:14:11","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 18:14:11","post_content":"
Da-Venya Armstrong, president of\u00a0Armstrong Creative Consulting, has helped\u00a0thousands of Black elders in Miami-Dade\u00a0County receive COVID-19 vaccines.<\/span><\/h5>\n
If you are Black and you, a friend or a relative have received a COVID-19 vaccine, it\u2019s likely that you have Da-Venya Armstrong to thank. The communications and community outreach guru has exponentially increased the number of Black residents getting vaccines by laun<\/span>ching and overseeing a faith-based outreach program. More than 8,000 people have been vaccinated as a result and her client, Jackson Health System, has gone from being criticized to celebrated.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
I always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Armstrong\u2019s ties to church and community began 25 years ago, when Bishop Victor Curry took the pulpit at New Birth Baptist Church to announce that he had purchased a radio station, WMBM, and would take to the airwaves. That announcement changed Armstrong\u2019s life and launched her career. \u201cIt was like the sky lit up for me,\u201d she said. <\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since then, the 46-year-old businesswoman has embodied Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s dream by giving back to her community through time spent working at WMBM and growing her company, Armstrong Creative Consulting (ACC).<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Carol City native was one of three daughters. Her mother, a licensed practical nurse, worked 18 to 24 hours per day. Armstrong recalls being raised \u201cby a village\u201d when her mother wasn\u2019t home; her aunt Connie and neighbors sometimes stepped in to care for all three kids. \u201cThey understood that my mom was working a lot,\u201d said Armstrong. \u201cMy mother was doing everything she could to raise us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Because she considered herself a middle-of-the-road student at Hialeah Miami Lakes High School, Armstrong got to work. Seeing classmates outside of her demographic getting into higher-level courses inspired her to do better. \u201cI wanted to have better opportunities, so I pushed myself,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n
Armstrong attended Miami Dade College and the University of Miami, majoring in broadcast journalism because as a kid, she loved listening to gospel station WMBM with her grandmother. In 1995, not long after that fateful announcement at the church, the station was rebuilt from the ground up. Armstrong became news director, public service director, administrative assistant and traffic director, all while doing a morning show, \u201cMorning Glory with Bishop and Da-Venya,\u201d with Curry. Her mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer around the same time. She went into remission, but six years later the cancer came back. Armstrong resigned from WMBM to care for her.<\/span><\/p>\n
By then she had gained a thorough understanding of how churches operate through her work at WMBM. If major companies could do business at a higher level, she thought, so could houses of worship. After her mother died in 2000, Armstrong took a leap of faith and started ACC. She began by speaking to small businesses and churches.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cIt was all word of mouth, convincing them that I could help promote their businesses to the communities they needed to reach,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was six years of piecing together one person, one business and one church at a time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Her big break came in 2008, when The Children\u2019s Trust\u2019s reauthorization campaign hired her as a deputy campaign manager. \u201cIt was an opportunity I\u2019ll never forget,\u201d she said. \u201cIt took my business from A to Z.\u201d Today, Armstrong also works on community outreach for the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust. \u201cThat work is beyond significant to me,\u201d she said. \u201cI always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
She then began working with James Jones, a former Miami Heat basketball player, with whom she established The James Jones Legacy Foundation. The organization helps to provide children with positive role models. She serves as executive director.<\/span><\/p>\n
The Children\u2019s Trust, a client now for more than a decade, is another entity Armstrong promotes to connect Black children and families to available programs and services. Community activist Jacqui Colyer has seen ACC\u2019s founder grow up to become the professional she is today.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she talks about things, she actually gets them done,\u201d Colyer said. \u201cShe figures it out and brings two people together so that they can live their dreams.\u201d Armstrong says her past has created steppingstones to do better in the present. \u201cHaving been a young girl born and raised in the \u2019hood,\u201d she said, \u201call I could do was dream.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n
This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","post_title":"Faith and community drive Da-Venya Armstrong","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"faith-and-community-drive-da-venya-armstrong","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-02-24 07:07:44","post_modified_gmt":"2022-02-24 07:07:44","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=802","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"total_page":false},"paged":1,"class":"jblog_block_24"};
Why not just be a part of the system to try to remedy it and fix it from within?<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Those resources, he said, can help improve mental health and rehabilitate those addicted to drugs, preventing a dangerous cycle of reincarceration. When they aren\u2019t made available, it can be difficult to break free from the \u201crevolving door\u201d of the system. Fernandez Pryor vowed to get involved and make a difference. \u201cThis all had a profound effect on me,\u201d he said, \u201c[which led to me] saying, \u2018OK, why not just be a part of the system to try to remedy it and fix it from within?\u201d
Pryor, 34, won election as Broward County state attorney this past November, defeating Gregg Rossman. In doing so he became not only Broward County\u2019s first Black state attorney, but also Florida\u2019s first Black male state attorney. In his new position, he hopes to spur change through criminal justice reform and connecting with the community.
Fernandez Pryor was born on Jan. 17, 1987. His father was a state corrections officer; his mother, an assistant city clerk. Due to his dad\u2019s profession, Fernandez Pryor learned all about the corrections system before graduating from Pasco High School in 2005. He went on to briefly play defensive back for the University of Florida while pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. He graduated in 2009 and then attended the Shepard Broad College of Law at Nova Southeastern University, graduating in 2012. In 2014, he took a job as a Broward County assistant state attorney, serving for three years. \u201cThe greatest impact of the job was getting to be in the room while there were important discussions going on that were impacting people of color and poor people\u2019s lives ... being able to be that last line of reason, defense or understanding,\u201d Fernandez Pryor shared.
He went into private practice in 2017, before deciding to run for the top prosecutor job. His win was impressive. His opponent, an experienced Republican litigator, has more than 25 years of experience in the field. He\u2019s also two decades older than Pryor. But as the Sun Sentinel pointed out in its endorsement of Pryor, the \u201cbetter r\u00e9sum\u00e9\u201d doesn\u2019t always matter, especially when a candidate brings fresh ideas, a new perspective and diverse experience.
Fernandez Pryor won the election by almost 250,000 votes, thanks in part to the support of local activists, some of whom have been visible since the 1940s. \u201cI know they expect me to do big things and to be the change,\" he said. \u201cI\u2019m truly standing on the shoulders of giants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nationally recognized litigator Eugene K. Pettis \u2013 named the Florida Bar\u2019s first Black president in 2013 \u2013 is one of them. He met Fernandez Pryor around 2011 and became a mentor. \u201cHe\u2019s always been a very bright young man, driven toward excellence,\u201d Pettis said. \u201cI think he\u2019s bringing a refreshed vision to the state attorney\u2019s office. He brings a new perspective both generationally and because he has walked as an African American gentleman growing up here in Florida.\u201d
Fernandez Pryor plans to make the system more \u201cjust and fair\u201d by adding diversion programs, increasing resources for juveniles and retooling mental health courts to become \u201ctherapeutic instead of adversarial.\u201d He says his vision is led by Martin Luther King Jr. \u201cOne of Dr. King\u2019s most driving quotes was, \u2018Life\u2019s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?\u2019\u201d said Pryor. \u201cHe\u2019s inspired me to get up, do something and be proactive.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em><\/p>\n","post_title":"Criminal justice reform a priority for Fernandez Pryor","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"criminal-justice-reform-a-priority-for-fernandez-pryor","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_modified_gmt":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=823","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":802,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 18:14:11","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 18:14:11","post_content":"
Da-Venya Armstrong, president of\u00a0Armstrong Creative Consulting, has helped\u00a0thousands of Black elders in Miami-Dade\u00a0County receive COVID-19 vaccines.<\/span><\/h5>\n
If you are Black and you, a friend or a relative have received a COVID-19 vaccine, it\u2019s likely that you have Da-Venya Armstrong to thank. The communications and community outreach guru has exponentially increased the number of Black residents getting vaccines by laun<\/span>ching and overseeing a faith-based outreach program. More than 8,000 people have been vaccinated as a result and her client, Jackson Health System, has gone from being criticized to celebrated.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
I always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Armstrong\u2019s ties to church and community began 25 years ago, when Bishop Victor Curry took the pulpit at New Birth Baptist Church to announce that he had purchased a radio station, WMBM, and would take to the airwaves. That announcement changed Armstrong\u2019s life and launched her career. \u201cIt was like the sky lit up for me,\u201d she said. <\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since then, the 46-year-old businesswoman has embodied Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s dream by giving back to her community through time spent working at WMBM and growing her company, Armstrong Creative Consulting (ACC).<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Carol City native was one of three daughters. Her mother, a licensed practical nurse, worked 18 to 24 hours per day. Armstrong recalls being raised \u201cby a village\u201d when her mother wasn\u2019t home; her aunt Connie and neighbors sometimes stepped in to care for all three kids. \u201cThey understood that my mom was working a lot,\u201d said Armstrong. \u201cMy mother was doing everything she could to raise us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Because she considered herself a middle-of-the-road student at Hialeah Miami Lakes High School, Armstrong got to work. Seeing classmates outside of her demographic getting into higher-level courses inspired her to do better. \u201cI wanted to have better opportunities, so I pushed myself,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n
Armstrong attended Miami Dade College and the University of Miami, majoring in broadcast journalism because as a kid, she loved listening to gospel station WMBM with her grandmother. In 1995, not long after that fateful announcement at the church, the station was rebuilt from the ground up. Armstrong became news director, public service director, administrative assistant and traffic director, all while doing a morning show, \u201cMorning Glory with Bishop and Da-Venya,\u201d with Curry. Her mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer around the same time. She went into remission, but six years later the cancer came back. Armstrong resigned from WMBM to care for her.<\/span><\/p>\n
By then she had gained a thorough understanding of how churches operate through her work at WMBM. If major companies could do business at a higher level, she thought, so could houses of worship. After her mother died in 2000, Armstrong took a leap of faith and started ACC. She began by speaking to small businesses and churches.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cIt was all word of mouth, convincing them that I could help promote their businesses to the communities they needed to reach,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was six years of piecing together one person, one business and one church at a time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Her big break came in 2008, when The Children\u2019s Trust\u2019s reauthorization campaign hired her as a deputy campaign manager. \u201cIt was an opportunity I\u2019ll never forget,\u201d she said. \u201cIt took my business from A to Z.\u201d Today, Armstrong also works on community outreach for the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust. \u201cThat work is beyond significant to me,\u201d she said. \u201cI always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
She then began working with James Jones, a former Miami Heat basketball player, with whom she established The James Jones Legacy Foundation. The organization helps to provide children with positive role models. She serves as executive director.<\/span><\/p>\n
The Children\u2019s Trust, a client now for more than a decade, is another entity Armstrong promotes to connect Black children and families to available programs and services. Community activist Jacqui Colyer has seen ACC\u2019s founder grow up to become the professional she is today.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she talks about things, she actually gets them done,\u201d Colyer said. \u201cShe figures it out and brings two people together so that they can live their dreams.\u201d Armstrong says her past has created steppingstones to do better in the present. \u201cHaving been a young girl born and raised in the \u2019hood,\u201d she said, \u201call I could do was dream.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n
This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","post_title":"Faith and community drive Da-Venya Armstrong","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"faith-and-community-drive-da-venya-armstrong","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-02-24 07:07:44","post_modified_gmt":"2022-02-24 07:07:44","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=802","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"total_page":false},"paged":1,"class":"jblog_block_24"};
Harold Fernandez Pryor is well aware of the inconsistencies and flaws of the criminal justice system. Growing up in Dade City near Tampa, Florida, \u201cacross the railroad tracks,\u201d he was the only kid on his block with both parents around. He describes his hometown as a \u201ctougher neighborhood\u201d full of crime and drugs. Indeed, many of his friends and family members fell victim to their surroundings and circumstances, and ended up behind bars. \u201cThey had mental health issues, drug addiction issues. I saw them demonized and criminalized with no resources being offered to them,\u201d Fernandez Pryor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why not just be a part of the system to try to remedy it and fix it from within?<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Those resources, he said, can help improve mental health and rehabilitate those addicted to drugs, preventing a dangerous cycle of reincarceration. When they aren\u2019t made available, it can be difficult to break free from the \u201crevolving door\u201d of the system. Fernandez Pryor vowed to get involved and make a difference. \u201cThis all had a profound effect on me,\u201d he said, \u201c[which led to me] saying, \u2018OK, why not just be a part of the system to try to remedy it and fix it from within?\u201d
Pryor, 34, won election as Broward County state attorney this past November, defeating Gregg Rossman. In doing so he became not only Broward County\u2019s first Black state attorney, but also Florida\u2019s first Black male state attorney. In his new position, he hopes to spur change through criminal justice reform and connecting with the community.
Fernandez Pryor was born on Jan. 17, 1987. His father was a state corrections officer; his mother, an assistant city clerk. Due to his dad\u2019s profession, Fernandez Pryor learned all about the corrections system before graduating from Pasco High School in 2005. He went on to briefly play defensive back for the University of Florida while pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. He graduated in 2009 and then attended the Shepard Broad College of Law at Nova Southeastern University, graduating in 2012. In 2014, he took a job as a Broward County assistant state attorney, serving for three years. \u201cThe greatest impact of the job was getting to be in the room while there were important discussions going on that were impacting people of color and poor people\u2019s lives ... being able to be that last line of reason, defense or understanding,\u201d Fernandez Pryor shared.
He went into private practice in 2017, before deciding to run for the top prosecutor job. His win was impressive. His opponent, an experienced Republican litigator, has more than 25 years of experience in the field. He\u2019s also two decades older than Pryor. But as the Sun Sentinel pointed out in its endorsement of Pryor, the \u201cbetter r\u00e9sum\u00e9\u201d doesn\u2019t always matter, especially when a candidate brings fresh ideas, a new perspective and diverse experience.
Fernandez Pryor won the election by almost 250,000 votes, thanks in part to the support of local activists, some of whom have been visible since the 1940s. \u201cI know they expect me to do big things and to be the change,\" he said. \u201cI\u2019m truly standing on the shoulders of giants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nationally recognized litigator Eugene K. Pettis \u2013 named the Florida Bar\u2019s first Black president in 2013 \u2013 is one of them. He met Fernandez Pryor around 2011 and became a mentor. \u201cHe\u2019s always been a very bright young man, driven toward excellence,\u201d Pettis said. \u201cI think he\u2019s bringing a refreshed vision to the state attorney\u2019s office. He brings a new perspective both generationally and because he has walked as an African American gentleman growing up here in Florida.\u201d
Fernandez Pryor plans to make the system more \u201cjust and fair\u201d by adding diversion programs, increasing resources for juveniles and retooling mental health courts to become \u201ctherapeutic instead of adversarial.\u201d He says his vision is led by Martin Luther King Jr. \u201cOne of Dr. King\u2019s most driving quotes was, \u2018Life\u2019s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?\u2019\u201d said Pryor. \u201cHe\u2019s inspired me to get up, do something and be proactive.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em><\/p>\n","post_title":"Criminal justice reform a priority for Fernandez Pryor","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"criminal-justice-reform-a-priority-for-fernandez-pryor","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_modified_gmt":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=823","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":802,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 18:14:11","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 18:14:11","post_content":"
Da-Venya Armstrong, president of\u00a0Armstrong Creative Consulting, has helped\u00a0thousands of Black elders in Miami-Dade\u00a0County receive COVID-19 vaccines.<\/span><\/h5>\n
If you are Black and you, a friend or a relative have received a COVID-19 vaccine, it\u2019s likely that you have Da-Venya Armstrong to thank. The communications and community outreach guru has exponentially increased the number of Black residents getting vaccines by laun<\/span>ching and overseeing a faith-based outreach program. More than 8,000 people have been vaccinated as a result and her client, Jackson Health System, has gone from being criticized to celebrated.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
I always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Armstrong\u2019s ties to church and community began 25 years ago, when Bishop Victor Curry took the pulpit at New Birth Baptist Church to announce that he had purchased a radio station, WMBM, and would take to the airwaves. That announcement changed Armstrong\u2019s life and launched her career. \u201cIt was like the sky lit up for me,\u201d she said. <\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since then, the 46-year-old businesswoman has embodied Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s dream by giving back to her community through time spent working at WMBM and growing her company, Armstrong Creative Consulting (ACC).<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Carol City native was one of three daughters. Her mother, a licensed practical nurse, worked 18 to 24 hours per day. Armstrong recalls being raised \u201cby a village\u201d when her mother wasn\u2019t home; her aunt Connie and neighbors sometimes stepped in to care for all three kids. \u201cThey understood that my mom was working a lot,\u201d said Armstrong. \u201cMy mother was doing everything she could to raise us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Because she considered herself a middle-of-the-road student at Hialeah Miami Lakes High School, Armstrong got to work. Seeing classmates outside of her demographic getting into higher-level courses inspired her to do better. \u201cI wanted to have better opportunities, so I pushed myself,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n
Armstrong attended Miami Dade College and the University of Miami, majoring in broadcast journalism because as a kid, she loved listening to gospel station WMBM with her grandmother. In 1995, not long after that fateful announcement at the church, the station was rebuilt from the ground up. Armstrong became news director, public service director, administrative assistant and traffic director, all while doing a morning show, \u201cMorning Glory with Bishop and Da-Venya,\u201d with Curry. Her mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer around the same time. She went into remission, but six years later the cancer came back. Armstrong resigned from WMBM to care for her.<\/span><\/p>\n
By then she had gained a thorough understanding of how churches operate through her work at WMBM. If major companies could do business at a higher level, she thought, so could houses of worship. After her mother died in 2000, Armstrong took a leap of faith and started ACC. She began by speaking to small businesses and churches.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cIt was all word of mouth, convincing them that I could help promote their businesses to the communities they needed to reach,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was six years of piecing together one person, one business and one church at a time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Her big break came in 2008, when The Children\u2019s Trust\u2019s reauthorization campaign hired her as a deputy campaign manager. \u201cIt was an opportunity I\u2019ll never forget,\u201d she said. \u201cIt took my business from A to Z.\u201d Today, Armstrong also works on community outreach for the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust. \u201cThat work is beyond significant to me,\u201d she said. \u201cI always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
She then began working with James Jones, a former Miami Heat basketball player, with whom she established The James Jones Legacy Foundation. The organization helps to provide children with positive role models. She serves as executive director.<\/span><\/p>\n
The Children\u2019s Trust, a client now for more than a decade, is another entity Armstrong promotes to connect Black children and families to available programs and services. Community activist Jacqui Colyer has seen ACC\u2019s founder grow up to become the professional she is today.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she talks about things, she actually gets them done,\u201d Colyer said. \u201cShe figures it out and brings two people together so that they can live their dreams.\u201d Armstrong says her past has created steppingstones to do better in the present. \u201cHaving been a young girl born and raised in the \u2019hood,\u201d she said, \u201call I could do was dream.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n
This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","post_title":"Faith and community drive Da-Venya Armstrong","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"faith-and-community-drive-da-venya-armstrong","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-02-24 07:07:44","post_modified_gmt":"2022-02-24 07:07:44","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=802","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"total_page":false},"paged":1,"class":"jblog_block_24"};
Harold Fernandez Pryor is a new kind of top prosecutor<\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Harold Fernandez Pryor is well aware of the inconsistencies and flaws of the criminal justice system. Growing up in Dade City near Tampa, Florida, \u201cacross the railroad tracks,\u201d he was the only kid on his block with both parents around. He describes his hometown as a \u201ctougher neighborhood\u201d full of crime and drugs. Indeed, many of his friends and family members fell victim to their surroundings and circumstances, and ended up behind bars. \u201cThey had mental health issues, drug addiction issues. I saw them demonized and criminalized with no resources being offered to them,\u201d Fernandez Pryor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why not just be a part of the system to try to remedy it and fix it from within?<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Those resources, he said, can help improve mental health and rehabilitate those addicted to drugs, preventing a dangerous cycle of reincarceration. When they aren\u2019t made available, it can be difficult to break free from the \u201crevolving door\u201d of the system. Fernandez Pryor vowed to get involved and make a difference. \u201cThis all had a profound effect on me,\u201d he said, \u201c[which led to me] saying, \u2018OK, why not just be a part of the system to try to remedy it and fix it from within?\u201d
Pryor, 34, won election as Broward County state attorney this past November, defeating Gregg Rossman. In doing so he became not only Broward County\u2019s first Black state attorney, but also Florida\u2019s first Black male state attorney. In his new position, he hopes to spur change through criminal justice reform and connecting with the community.
Fernandez Pryor was born on Jan. 17, 1987. His father was a state corrections officer; his mother, an assistant city clerk. Due to his dad\u2019s profession, Fernandez Pryor learned all about the corrections system before graduating from Pasco High School in 2005. He went on to briefly play defensive back for the University of Florida while pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. He graduated in 2009 and then attended the Shepard Broad College of Law at Nova Southeastern University, graduating in 2012. In 2014, he took a job as a Broward County assistant state attorney, serving for three years. \u201cThe greatest impact of the job was getting to be in the room while there were important discussions going on that were impacting people of color and poor people\u2019s lives ... being able to be that last line of reason, defense or understanding,\u201d Fernandez Pryor shared.
He went into private practice in 2017, before deciding to run for the top prosecutor job. His win was impressive. His opponent, an experienced Republican litigator, has more than 25 years of experience in the field. He\u2019s also two decades older than Pryor. But as the Sun Sentinel pointed out in its endorsement of Pryor, the \u201cbetter r\u00e9sum\u00e9\u201d doesn\u2019t always matter, especially when a candidate brings fresh ideas, a new perspective and diverse experience.
Fernandez Pryor won the election by almost 250,000 votes, thanks in part to the support of local activists, some of whom have been visible since the 1940s. \u201cI know they expect me to do big things and to be the change,\" he said. \u201cI\u2019m truly standing on the shoulders of giants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nationally recognized litigator Eugene K. Pettis \u2013 named the Florida Bar\u2019s first Black president in 2013 \u2013 is one of them. He met Fernandez Pryor around 2011 and became a mentor. \u201cHe\u2019s always been a very bright young man, driven toward excellence,\u201d Pettis said. \u201cI think he\u2019s bringing a refreshed vision to the state attorney\u2019s office. He brings a new perspective both generationally and because he has walked as an African American gentleman growing up here in Florida.\u201d
Fernandez Pryor plans to make the system more \u201cjust and fair\u201d by adding diversion programs, increasing resources for juveniles and retooling mental health courts to become \u201ctherapeutic instead of adversarial.\u201d He says his vision is led by Martin Luther King Jr. \u201cOne of Dr. King\u2019s most driving quotes was, \u2018Life\u2019s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?\u2019\u201d said Pryor. \u201cHe\u2019s inspired me to get up, do something and be proactive.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em><\/p>\n","post_title":"Criminal justice reform a priority for Fernandez Pryor","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"criminal-justice-reform-a-priority-for-fernandez-pryor","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_modified_gmt":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=823","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":802,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 18:14:11","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 18:14:11","post_content":"
Da-Venya Armstrong, president of\u00a0Armstrong Creative Consulting, has helped\u00a0thousands of Black elders in Miami-Dade\u00a0County receive COVID-19 vaccines.<\/span><\/h5>\n
If you are Black and you, a friend or a relative have received a COVID-19 vaccine, it\u2019s likely that you have Da-Venya Armstrong to thank. The communications and community outreach guru has exponentially increased the number of Black residents getting vaccines by laun<\/span>ching and overseeing a faith-based outreach program. More than 8,000 people have been vaccinated as a result and her client, Jackson Health System, has gone from being criticized to celebrated.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
I always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Armstrong\u2019s ties to church and community began 25 years ago, when Bishop Victor Curry took the pulpit at New Birth Baptist Church to announce that he had purchased a radio station, WMBM, and would take to the airwaves. That announcement changed Armstrong\u2019s life and launched her career. \u201cIt was like the sky lit up for me,\u201d she said. <\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since then, the 46-year-old businesswoman has embodied Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s dream by giving back to her community through time spent working at WMBM and growing her company, Armstrong Creative Consulting (ACC).<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Carol City native was one of three daughters. Her mother, a licensed practical nurse, worked 18 to 24 hours per day. Armstrong recalls being raised \u201cby a village\u201d when her mother wasn\u2019t home; her aunt Connie and neighbors sometimes stepped in to care for all three kids. \u201cThey understood that my mom was working a lot,\u201d said Armstrong. \u201cMy mother was doing everything she could to raise us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Because she considered herself a middle-of-the-road student at Hialeah Miami Lakes High School, Armstrong got to work. Seeing classmates outside of her demographic getting into higher-level courses inspired her to do better. \u201cI wanted to have better opportunities, so I pushed myself,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n
Armstrong attended Miami Dade College and the University of Miami, majoring in broadcast journalism because as a kid, she loved listening to gospel station WMBM with her grandmother. In 1995, not long after that fateful announcement at the church, the station was rebuilt from the ground up. Armstrong became news director, public service director, administrative assistant and traffic director, all while doing a morning show, \u201cMorning Glory with Bishop and Da-Venya,\u201d with Curry. Her mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer around the same time. She went into remission, but six years later the cancer came back. Armstrong resigned from WMBM to care for her.<\/span><\/p>\n
By then she had gained a thorough understanding of how churches operate through her work at WMBM. If major companies could do business at a higher level, she thought, so could houses of worship. After her mother died in 2000, Armstrong took a leap of faith and started ACC. She began by speaking to small businesses and churches.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cIt was all word of mouth, convincing them that I could help promote their businesses to the communities they needed to reach,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was six years of piecing together one person, one business and one church at a time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Her big break came in 2008, when The Children\u2019s Trust\u2019s reauthorization campaign hired her as a deputy campaign manager. \u201cIt was an opportunity I\u2019ll never forget,\u201d she said. \u201cIt took my business from A to Z.\u201d Today, Armstrong also works on community outreach for the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust. \u201cThat work is beyond significant to me,\u201d she said. \u201cI always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
She then began working with James Jones, a former Miami Heat basketball player, with whom she established The James Jones Legacy Foundation. The organization helps to provide children with positive role models. She serves as executive director.<\/span><\/p>\n
The Children\u2019s Trust, a client now for more than a decade, is another entity Armstrong promotes to connect Black children and families to available programs and services. Community activist Jacqui Colyer has seen ACC\u2019s founder grow up to become the professional she is today.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she talks about things, she actually gets them done,\u201d Colyer said. \u201cShe figures it out and brings two people together so that they can live their dreams.\u201d Armstrong says her past has created steppingstones to do better in the present. \u201cHaving been a young girl born and raised in the \u2019hood,\u201d she said, \u201call I could do was dream.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n
This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","post_title":"Faith and community drive Da-Venya Armstrong","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"faith-and-community-drive-da-venya-armstrong","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-02-24 07:07:44","post_modified_gmt":"2022-02-24 07:07:44","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=802","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"total_page":false},"paged":1,"class":"jblog_block_24"};
Shero was born out of that work, as well as from Rushin\u2019s desire to continue serving the community she knows and loves. Her immediate future plans for the nonprofit include an event to empower local women in business and technology, but regardless of how her outreach evolves, it will be informed by her wish to create a legacy of service.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Shelby Rushin: From radio host to Shero founder","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"shelby-rushin-from-radio-host-to-shero-founder","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_modified_gmt":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=871","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":823,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-09 04:20:45","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-09 04:20:45","post_content":"\n
Harold Fernandez Pryor is a new kind of top prosecutor<\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Harold Fernandez Pryor is well aware of the inconsistencies and flaws of the criminal justice system. Growing up in Dade City near Tampa, Florida, \u201cacross the railroad tracks,\u201d he was the only kid on his block with both parents around. He describes his hometown as a \u201ctougher neighborhood\u201d full of crime and drugs. Indeed, many of his friends and family members fell victim to their surroundings and circumstances, and ended up behind bars. \u201cThey had mental health issues, drug addiction issues. I saw them demonized and criminalized with no resources being offered to them,\u201d Fernandez Pryor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why not just be a part of the system to try to remedy it and fix it from within?<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Those resources, he said, can help improve mental health and rehabilitate those addicted to drugs, preventing a dangerous cycle of reincarceration. When they aren\u2019t made available, it can be difficult to break free from the \u201crevolving door\u201d of the system. Fernandez Pryor vowed to get involved and make a difference. \u201cThis all had a profound effect on me,\u201d he said, \u201c[which led to me] saying, \u2018OK, why not just be a part of the system to try to remedy it and fix it from within?\u201d
Pryor, 34, won election as Broward County state attorney this past November, defeating Gregg Rossman. In doing so he became not only Broward County\u2019s first Black state attorney, but also Florida\u2019s first Black male state attorney. In his new position, he hopes to spur change through criminal justice reform and connecting with the community.
Fernandez Pryor was born on Jan. 17, 1987. His father was a state corrections officer; his mother, an assistant city clerk. Due to his dad\u2019s profession, Fernandez Pryor learned all about the corrections system before graduating from Pasco High School in 2005. He went on to briefly play defensive back for the University of Florida while pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. He graduated in 2009 and then attended the Shepard Broad College of Law at Nova Southeastern University, graduating in 2012. In 2014, he took a job as a Broward County assistant state attorney, serving for three years. \u201cThe greatest impact of the job was getting to be in the room while there were important discussions going on that were impacting people of color and poor people\u2019s lives ... being able to be that last line of reason, defense or understanding,\u201d Fernandez Pryor shared.
He went into private practice in 2017, before deciding to run for the top prosecutor job. His win was impressive. His opponent, an experienced Republican litigator, has more than 25 years of experience in the field. He\u2019s also two decades older than Pryor. But as the Sun Sentinel pointed out in its endorsement of Pryor, the \u201cbetter r\u00e9sum\u00e9\u201d doesn\u2019t always matter, especially when a candidate brings fresh ideas, a new perspective and diverse experience.
Fernandez Pryor won the election by almost 250,000 votes, thanks in part to the support of local activists, some of whom have been visible since the 1940s. \u201cI know they expect me to do big things and to be the change,\" he said. \u201cI\u2019m truly standing on the shoulders of giants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nationally recognized litigator Eugene K. Pettis \u2013 named the Florida Bar\u2019s first Black president in 2013 \u2013 is one of them. He met Fernandez Pryor around 2011 and became a mentor. \u201cHe\u2019s always been a very bright young man, driven toward excellence,\u201d Pettis said. \u201cI think he\u2019s bringing a refreshed vision to the state attorney\u2019s office. He brings a new perspective both generationally and because he has walked as an African American gentleman growing up here in Florida.\u201d
Fernandez Pryor plans to make the system more \u201cjust and fair\u201d by adding diversion programs, increasing resources for juveniles and retooling mental health courts to become \u201ctherapeutic instead of adversarial.\u201d He says his vision is led by Martin Luther King Jr. \u201cOne of Dr. King\u2019s most driving quotes was, \u2018Life\u2019s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?\u2019\u201d said Pryor. \u201cHe\u2019s inspired me to get up, do something and be proactive.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em><\/p>\n","post_title":"Criminal justice reform a priority for Fernandez Pryor","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"criminal-justice-reform-a-priority-for-fernandez-pryor","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_modified_gmt":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=823","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":802,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 18:14:11","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 18:14:11","post_content":"
Da-Venya Armstrong, president of\u00a0Armstrong Creative Consulting, has helped\u00a0thousands of Black elders in Miami-Dade\u00a0County receive COVID-19 vaccines.<\/span><\/h5>\n
If you are Black and you, a friend or a relative have received a COVID-19 vaccine, it\u2019s likely that you have Da-Venya Armstrong to thank. The communications and community outreach guru has exponentially increased the number of Black residents getting vaccines by laun<\/span>ching and overseeing a faith-based outreach program. More than 8,000 people have been vaccinated as a result and her client, Jackson Health System, has gone from being criticized to celebrated.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
I always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Armstrong\u2019s ties to church and community began 25 years ago, when Bishop Victor Curry took the pulpit at New Birth Baptist Church to announce that he had purchased a radio station, WMBM, and would take to the airwaves. That announcement changed Armstrong\u2019s life and launched her career. \u201cIt was like the sky lit up for me,\u201d she said. <\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since then, the 46-year-old businesswoman has embodied Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s dream by giving back to her community through time spent working at WMBM and growing her company, Armstrong Creative Consulting (ACC).<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Carol City native was one of three daughters. Her mother, a licensed practical nurse, worked 18 to 24 hours per day. Armstrong recalls being raised \u201cby a village\u201d when her mother wasn\u2019t home; her aunt Connie and neighbors sometimes stepped in to care for all three kids. \u201cThey understood that my mom was working a lot,\u201d said Armstrong. \u201cMy mother was doing everything she could to raise us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Because she considered herself a middle-of-the-road student at Hialeah Miami Lakes High School, Armstrong got to work. Seeing classmates outside of her demographic getting into higher-level courses inspired her to do better. \u201cI wanted to have better opportunities, so I pushed myself,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n
Armstrong attended Miami Dade College and the University of Miami, majoring in broadcast journalism because as a kid, she loved listening to gospel station WMBM with her grandmother. In 1995, not long after that fateful announcement at the church, the station was rebuilt from the ground up. Armstrong became news director, public service director, administrative assistant and traffic director, all while doing a morning show, \u201cMorning Glory with Bishop and Da-Venya,\u201d with Curry. Her mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer around the same time. She went into remission, but six years later the cancer came back. Armstrong resigned from WMBM to care for her.<\/span><\/p>\n
By then she had gained a thorough understanding of how churches operate through her work at WMBM. If major companies could do business at a higher level, she thought, so could houses of worship. After her mother died in 2000, Armstrong took a leap of faith and started ACC. She began by speaking to small businesses and churches.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cIt was all word of mouth, convincing them that I could help promote their businesses to the communities they needed to reach,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was six years of piecing together one person, one business and one church at a time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Her big break came in 2008, when The Children\u2019s Trust\u2019s reauthorization campaign hired her as a deputy campaign manager. \u201cIt was an opportunity I\u2019ll never forget,\u201d she said. \u201cIt took my business from A to Z.\u201d Today, Armstrong also works on community outreach for the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust. \u201cThat work is beyond significant to me,\u201d she said. \u201cI always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
She then began working with James Jones, a former Miami Heat basketball player, with whom she established The James Jones Legacy Foundation. The organization helps to provide children with positive role models. She serves as executive director.<\/span><\/p>\n
The Children\u2019s Trust, a client now for more than a decade, is another entity Armstrong promotes to connect Black children and families to available programs and services. Community activist Jacqui Colyer has seen ACC\u2019s founder grow up to become the professional she is today.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she talks about things, she actually gets them done,\u201d Colyer said. \u201cShe figures it out and brings two people together so that they can live their dreams.\u201d Armstrong says her past has created steppingstones to do better in the present. \u201cHaving been a young girl born and raised in the \u2019hood,\u201d she said, \u201call I could do was dream.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n
This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","post_title":"Faith and community drive Da-Venya Armstrong","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"faith-and-community-drive-da-venya-armstrong","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-02-24 07:07:44","post_modified_gmt":"2022-02-24 07:07:44","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=802","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"total_page":false},"paged":1,"class":"jblog_block_24"};
Getting more involved in the community came next. She had already done some service work through her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, but wanted to amplify her efforts. Rushin began by feeding the homeless, alongside her two daughters and husband of 20 years. That evolved into partnering with other organizations, including Miami Rescue Mission, Nicklaus Children\u2019s Hospital and shelters for women in distress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shero was born out of that work, as well as from Rushin\u2019s desire to continue serving the community she knows and loves. Her immediate future plans for the nonprofit include an event to empower local women in business and technology, but regardless of how her outreach evolves, it will be informed by her wish to create a legacy of service.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Shelby Rushin: From radio host to Shero founder","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"shelby-rushin-from-radio-host-to-shero-founder","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_modified_gmt":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=871","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":823,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-09 04:20:45","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-09 04:20:45","post_content":"\n
Harold Fernandez Pryor is a new kind of top prosecutor<\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Harold Fernandez Pryor is well aware of the inconsistencies and flaws of the criminal justice system. Growing up in Dade City near Tampa, Florida, \u201cacross the railroad tracks,\u201d he was the only kid on his block with both parents around. He describes his hometown as a \u201ctougher neighborhood\u201d full of crime and drugs. Indeed, many of his friends and family members fell victim to their surroundings and circumstances, and ended up behind bars. \u201cThey had mental health issues, drug addiction issues. I saw them demonized and criminalized with no resources being offered to them,\u201d Fernandez Pryor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why not just be a part of the system to try to remedy it and fix it from within?<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Those resources, he said, can help improve mental health and rehabilitate those addicted to drugs, preventing a dangerous cycle of reincarceration. When they aren\u2019t made available, it can be difficult to break free from the \u201crevolving door\u201d of the system. Fernandez Pryor vowed to get involved and make a difference. \u201cThis all had a profound effect on me,\u201d he said, \u201c[which led to me] saying, \u2018OK, why not just be a part of the system to try to remedy it and fix it from within?\u201d
Pryor, 34, won election as Broward County state attorney this past November, defeating Gregg Rossman. In doing so he became not only Broward County\u2019s first Black state attorney, but also Florida\u2019s first Black male state attorney. In his new position, he hopes to spur change through criminal justice reform and connecting with the community.
Fernandez Pryor was born on Jan. 17, 1987. His father was a state corrections officer; his mother, an assistant city clerk. Due to his dad\u2019s profession, Fernandez Pryor learned all about the corrections system before graduating from Pasco High School in 2005. He went on to briefly play defensive back for the University of Florida while pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. He graduated in 2009 and then attended the Shepard Broad College of Law at Nova Southeastern University, graduating in 2012. In 2014, he took a job as a Broward County assistant state attorney, serving for three years. \u201cThe greatest impact of the job was getting to be in the room while there were important discussions going on that were impacting people of color and poor people\u2019s lives ... being able to be that last line of reason, defense or understanding,\u201d Fernandez Pryor shared.
He went into private practice in 2017, before deciding to run for the top prosecutor job. His win was impressive. His opponent, an experienced Republican litigator, has more than 25 years of experience in the field. He\u2019s also two decades older than Pryor. But as the Sun Sentinel pointed out in its endorsement of Pryor, the \u201cbetter r\u00e9sum\u00e9\u201d doesn\u2019t always matter, especially when a candidate brings fresh ideas, a new perspective and diverse experience.
Fernandez Pryor won the election by almost 250,000 votes, thanks in part to the support of local activists, some of whom have been visible since the 1940s. \u201cI know they expect me to do big things and to be the change,\" he said. \u201cI\u2019m truly standing on the shoulders of giants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nationally recognized litigator Eugene K. Pettis \u2013 named the Florida Bar\u2019s first Black president in 2013 \u2013 is one of them. He met Fernandez Pryor around 2011 and became a mentor. \u201cHe\u2019s always been a very bright young man, driven toward excellence,\u201d Pettis said. \u201cI think he\u2019s bringing a refreshed vision to the state attorney\u2019s office. He brings a new perspective both generationally and because he has walked as an African American gentleman growing up here in Florida.\u201d
Fernandez Pryor plans to make the system more \u201cjust and fair\u201d by adding diversion programs, increasing resources for juveniles and retooling mental health courts to become \u201ctherapeutic instead of adversarial.\u201d He says his vision is led by Martin Luther King Jr. \u201cOne of Dr. King\u2019s most driving quotes was, \u2018Life\u2019s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?\u2019\u201d said Pryor. \u201cHe\u2019s inspired me to get up, do something and be proactive.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em><\/p>\n","post_title":"Criminal justice reform a priority for Fernandez Pryor","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"criminal-justice-reform-a-priority-for-fernandez-pryor","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_modified_gmt":"2022-02-24 07:07:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=823","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":802,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 18:14:11","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 18:14:11","post_content":"
Da-Venya Armstrong, president of\u00a0Armstrong Creative Consulting, has helped\u00a0thousands of Black elders in Miami-Dade\u00a0County receive COVID-19 vaccines.<\/span><\/h5>\n
If you are Black and you, a friend or a relative have received a COVID-19 vaccine, it\u2019s likely that you have Da-Venya Armstrong to thank. The communications and community outreach guru has exponentially increased the number of Black residents getting vaccines by laun<\/span>ching and overseeing a faith-based outreach program. More than 8,000 people have been vaccinated as a result and her client, Jackson Health System, has gone from being criticized to celebrated.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
I always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Armstrong\u2019s ties to church and community began 25 years ago, when Bishop Victor Curry took the pulpit at New Birth Baptist Church to announce that he had purchased a radio station, WMBM, and would take to the airwaves. That announcement changed Armstrong\u2019s life and launched her career. \u201cIt was like the sky lit up for me,\u201d she said. <\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since then, the 46-year-old businesswoman has embodied Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s dream by giving back to her community through time spent working at WMBM and growing her company, Armstrong Creative Consulting (ACC).<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Carol City native was one of three daughters. Her mother, a licensed practical nurse, worked 18 to 24 hours per day. Armstrong recalls being raised \u201cby a village\u201d when her mother wasn\u2019t home; her aunt Connie and neighbors sometimes stepped in to care for all three kids. \u201cThey understood that my mom was working a lot,\u201d said Armstrong. \u201cMy mother was doing everything she could to raise us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Because she considered herself a middle-of-the-road student at Hialeah Miami Lakes High School, Armstrong got to work. Seeing classmates outside of her demographic getting into higher-level courses inspired her to do better. \u201cI wanted to have better opportunities, so I pushed myself,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n
Armstrong attended Miami Dade College and the University of Miami, majoring in broadcast journalism because as a kid, she loved listening to gospel station WMBM with her grandmother. In 1995, not long after that fateful announcement at the church, the station was rebuilt from the ground up. Armstrong became news director, public service director, administrative assistant and traffic director, all while doing a morning show, \u201cMorning Glory with Bishop and Da-Venya,\u201d with Curry. Her mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer around the same time. She went into remission, but six years later the cancer came back. Armstrong resigned from WMBM to care for her.<\/span><\/p>\n
By then she had gained a thorough understanding of how churches operate through her work at WMBM. If major companies could do business at a higher level, she thought, so could houses of worship. After her mother died in 2000, Armstrong took a leap of faith and started ACC. She began by speaking to small businesses and churches.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cIt was all word of mouth, convincing them that I could help promote their businesses to the communities they needed to reach,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was six years of piecing together one person, one business and one church at a time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Her big break came in 2008, when The Children\u2019s Trust\u2019s reauthorization campaign hired her as a deputy campaign manager. \u201cIt was an opportunity I\u2019ll never forget,\u201d she said. \u201cIt took my business from A to Z.\u201d Today, Armstrong also works on community outreach for the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust. \u201cThat work is beyond significant to me,\u201d she said. \u201cI always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
She then began working with James Jones, a former Miami Heat basketball player, with whom she established The James Jones Legacy Foundation. The organization helps to provide children with positive role models. She serves as executive director.<\/span><\/p>\n
The Children\u2019s Trust, a client now for more than a decade, is another entity Armstrong promotes to connect Black children and families to available programs and services. Community activist Jacqui Colyer has seen ACC\u2019s founder grow up to become the professional she is today.<\/span><\/p>\n
