Da-Venya Armstrong, president of\u00a0Armstrong Creative Consulting, has helped\u00a0thousands of Black elders in Miami-Dade\u00a0County receive COVID-19 vaccines.<\/span><\/h5>\nIf 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
\nI always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nArmstrong\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>\nBecause 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>\nThis 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"},{"ID":757,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 15:03:34","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 15:03:34","post_content":"As the president and CEO of the Urban League of Broward County, Dr. Germaine Smith-Baugh leads the organization's efforts to assist Broward County's Black community to achieve social and economic equality.\n\nAn affiliate of the National Urban League -- the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States based in New York City -- the Urban League of Broward County has been empowering communities and changing lives in the areas of education, jobs, housing and health for 40 years. Smith-Baugh has been a committed advocate for economic growth and stability for families for almost 20 of those years. A graduate of Florida State University, she first joined the Broward Urban League as a program coordinator in 1996.\n\nSince then, Smith-Baugh has helped implement many ideas, cultivate relationships and expand funding sources for the Urban League. She launched a multi-million dollar campaign to expand the Urban League\u2019s programs and services through the construction of a new Community Empowerment Center, which opened in April 2012.\n\n\"What's kept my passion and commitment for public service alive all these years is the innovation and integrity the Urban League has,\" Smith-Baugh said. \"I'm a social worker and to see the impact we've had on children and families in Broward rejuvenates me.\"\n\nThese days, Smith-Baugh is helping with fundraising and recruiting hundreds of volunteers and sponsors for this summer's National Urban League Conference, which will be held this year in Fort Lauderdale.\nThe National Urban League -- originally named the Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes -- was founded by Ruth Standish Baldwin and Dr. George Edmund Haynes, among others, on Sept. 29, 1910. It later merged with the Committee for the Improvement of Industrial Conditions Among Negroes in New York and the National League for the Protection of Colored Women to be renamed the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes. The organization took its present name in 1920.\n\nThe National Urban League's annual four-day conference, from July 29 to Aug. 1 at the Broward Convention Center, draws U.S. politicians, policymakers and academicians from across the country to find solutions to issues affecting Blacks and urban communitiesThe theme of this year's conference is \"Save Our Cities: Education, Jobs and Justice.\" The event will include empowerment sessions, workshops, an expo hall, career and networking fair and young professional summit. It is expected to attract between 5,000 and 10,000 attendants and bring about $10 million in economic impact.\n
\"We're excited to host the conference this year because it will bring national media attention to our area and offer practical solutions to education, jobs and social issues,\" Smith-Baugh said. \"It also coincides with a big milestone for us as the Urban League of Broward County celebrates 40 years of service breaking the cycle of poverty in the community.\"<\/blockquote>","post_title":"Civil rights the core of Smith-Baugh's career","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"civil-rights-the-core-of-smith-baughs-career","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=757","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":740,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 14:39:59","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 14:39:59","post_content":"Damion Jackson found his calling working with transplant patients.\u00a0Teaching two university classes a semester and handling business development and community outreach in the country\u2019s largest transplant center seems like a lot for one person to handle, but that\u2019s just a day in the life of Damion Jackson.\n\nFor several years now, the 44-year-old has deftly managed to marry his two passions \u2013 health care advocacy and business. It\u2019s what he feels he was meant to do ever since he started his professional career.\n\nThe collective model we have is no patient should ever die waiting for a transplant.\n\u201cNot really sure how I find the time, but I love both roles,\u201d said Jackson. \u201cNeither really feels like work in the traditional sense of the word.\u201d<\/blockquote>\nJackson grew up in Allapattah and Carol City as the son of a nurse, and has spent most of his life in Miami. He received a bachelor\u2019s degree in law from the University of Miami, but it was health care \u2013 and not jurisprudence \u2013 that claimed his interest.\n\nA job as a patient advocate for end-stage renal patients in the poor communities of central Florida and then Miami gave him his first taste of the industry. The work included writing letters for prescription discounts, finding housing and resolving transportation issues. A later role as a patient relations liaison at Mount Sinai Hospital, again working with end-stage renal patients, nudged him further down that road.\nWhat cemented his path and commitment to community was seeing patients finally receive a life-saving transplant, only to be mired down by exorbitantly priced medications that insurance wouldn\u2019t cover.\n\n\u201cThose types of issues were the ones that really rocked me to my core,\u201d said Jackson.\n\nHe eventually went back to school to earn a doctorate in health care education from Nova Southeastern University and then, in 2016, found himself in charge of community health education for chronically ill patients at Memorial Hospital South.\n\nThree years later, the Miami Transplant Institute, an affiliation between Jackson Health System and UHealth, landed on Jackson\u2019s radar.\n\n\u201cI think this is the truest definition of serendipitous,\u201d he said. \u201cI saw the position at Miami Transplant Institute and it gave me an opportunity to do business development, community outreach and health care.\u201d\n\nThe role was in line with everything Jackson had been working toward, and after a close friend underwent a transplant, he knew it was his next step.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t even necessarily think I found the job,\u201d he said. \u201cThe job found me.\u201d\nJackson wears his title like a badge of honor, and is proud to be a part of something bigger than himself.\n\u201cThe collective model we have is no patient should ever die waiting for a transplant,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cAnd we work toward that goal every single day.\u201d\n\nDual roles as a lecturer at UM and as an adjunct professor at Florida International University are an extension of his work. He\u2019s taught patient advocacy at the former for almost five years, and teaches global health and health informatics at FIU, where his undergraduate classes often have upward of 25 students. Graduate classes aren\u2019t as hefty, but they are no less demanding.\n\u201cI have a wealth of content [to share],\u201d he said, \u201cand I\u2019m applying the things that I see and experience day to day to the coursework.\u201d\n\n\u00a0This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em>","post_title":"Damion Jackson is a voice for transplant patients","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"damion-jackson-is-a-voice-for-transplant-patients","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_modified_gmt":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=740","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":742,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 14:33:21","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 14:33:21","post_content":"When Latin star Amara Le Negra decided to join the cast of \u201cLove and Hip Hop: Miami,\u201d she saw an outlet to the mainstream market. Le Negra\u2019s debut made a huge impact on viewers of the cable TV show not only for her talent but also because she took on one of the most-controversial topics: colorism.\nColorism is discrimination based on skin tone. Colorism traces back to slavery when slave masters would give fairer skin slaves better treatment, such as being allowed to work indoors. It is an ism that categorizes Black and Brown people by the amount of melanin in their skin.\n\n\u201cIt really makes me feel like it\u2019s unfair that we are judged based on our looks and not just our talent or knowledge,\u201d the singer, dancer and actress told The Miami Times<\/em>. Le Negra whose real name is Dana Danelys De Los Santos has cocoa-brown skin and grey eyes. She is often seen wearing her hair in a grand Afro.\n\nDuring one of the first episodes of the reality show, \u201cLove and Hip Hop: Miami,\u201d Le Negra was criticized for her hair style.\u00a0During an exchange with producer Young Hollywood, he told Le Negra if she changed her appearance to look like singer, Beyonce\u2019s, she could be \u201celegant and breathtaking.\u201d Beyonce is often seen with blonde or light-colored hair, which she wears in a variety of styles, excluding Afros.\n\n\u201cSo, are you saying that I cannot be elegant with an Afro?\u201d Le Negra asked her cast member on the episode to which, he replied yes.\n\nLe Negra, who is of Dominican descent, said that growing up in Hialeah, she didn\u2019t feel different because Miami has a diverse community of Latin Americans.\n\nBut in the Latin entertainment industry things were contrary.\n\n\u201cThere weren\u2019t any people who looked liked me; there weren\u2019t even people who looked even a little bit lighter because you were still too dark for what they consider an Afro-Latina to look like,\u201d said Le Negra, who started acting at 4.<\/blockquote>\n\u201cThey never knew where to place me because they would put me all the way in the back or in the middle, so I wouldn\u2019t take the attention or the focus of the audience.\u201d\nLe Negra, 29, said being vocal about the unfairness of colorism and any injustice has always been her mission.\n\nBeing a leader also comes with great responsibility, she added.\nAt a viewing for the second episode of the show in January 2018, Le Negra met a girl who said she was inspired by seeing Le Negra on the TV screen.\n\n\u201cShe came and hugged me, and she started crying and said to me that she didn\u2019t feel as beautiful because she was being bullied in school,\u201d said Le Negra. \u201cShe looked at me, and I looked pretty in her eyes.\u201d\n\nLe Negra remembers having that feeling herself growing up. She was able to find a role model in Celia Cruz, an Afro-Cuban singer.\nIt is important that children see images of themselves in media, she said. \u201cWhat would happen to those little girls growing up now? Will they have someone to look up to within their own community?\u201d\n\nAs a result, Le Negra has published a children\u2019s book \u201cAmacita\u2019s Way,\u201d which promotes positive self-image in dark-skinned children. On the cover is an illustration of a girl, who looks like the cartoon version of Le Negra.\u00a0She wants to take the Amacita to the next level, and create a cartoon show with the Afro-Latina version of \u201cDora the Explorer.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat would truly be a dream come true for me,\u201d she said.","post_title":"She spoke in defense of her Afro","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"she-spoke-in-defense-of-her-afro","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_modified_gmt":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=742","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"};
\nBut his introduction to the City Commission in late 2014 was rocky. He peppered the commissioners with questions about the late Terence Pinder, who was re-elected to the commission, after being removed in 2006 on public corruption charges. His victory came with conditions from the state attorney\u2019s office that Pinder could not vote on any ordinances or resolutions involving finances.
That didn\u2019t sit well with Pigatt. \u201cHow did we elect someone who can\u2019t do their job?\u201d Pigatt asked. That question caused an uproar that nearly led to an altercation with another audience member.
\u201cI went to three meetings, and two of them I was threatened with going to jail,\u201d said Pigatt. \u201cI was asking questions and I guess I ruffled feathers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now Pigatt is the youngest member of the Opa-locka dais. He brands himself as a new breed of lawmaker. Some constituents agree. \u201cHe\u2019s doing an amazing job,\u201d said Natasha English-Erving, a longtime resident. \u201cWe could use people with a vision for the city. What I love most is his eagerness to teach. He educates people on what\u2019s on the agenda, how to understand the agenda, and how to understand politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pigatt is in his second year with the commission. The road is sometimes still rocky. He has been on the losing side of some issues. A recent attempt by him to replace the city manager failed 4-1. English-Erving has noticed. \u201cHe\u2019s the most-disrespected person who sits on that panel,\u201d she said.
Pigatt seems undaunted. Once a month, he visits a different spot in the city and talks with residents about their issues and also upcoming legislation. He hopes to encourage them to get involved as constituents or possible commission candidates.
\u201cWe need more people engaged in office, and we need more people to run for office,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need a new generation of leadership desperately in Opa-locka.<\/p>\n","post_title":"From mentee to mentor","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"from-mentee-to-mentor","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=783","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>\nIf 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
\nI always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nArmstrong\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>\nBecause 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>\nThis 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"},{"ID":757,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 15:03:34","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 15:03:34","post_content":"As the president and CEO of the Urban League of Broward County, Dr. Germaine Smith-Baugh leads the organization's efforts to assist Broward County's Black community to achieve social and economic equality.\n\nAn affiliate of the National Urban League -- the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States based in New York City -- the Urban League of Broward County has been empowering communities and changing lives in the areas of education, jobs, housing and health for 40 years. Smith-Baugh has been a committed advocate for economic growth and stability for families for almost 20 of those years. A graduate of Florida State University, she first joined the Broward Urban League as a program coordinator in 1996.\n\nSince then, Smith-Baugh has helped implement many ideas, cultivate relationships and expand funding sources for the Urban League. She launched a multi-million dollar campaign to expand the Urban League\u2019s programs and services through the construction of a new Community Empowerment Center, which opened in April 2012.\n\n\"What's kept my passion and commitment for public service alive all these years is the innovation and integrity the Urban League has,\" Smith-Baugh said. \"I'm a social worker and to see the impact we've had on children and families in Broward rejuvenates me.\"\n\nThese days, Smith-Baugh is helping with fundraising and recruiting hundreds of volunteers and sponsors for this summer's National Urban League Conference, which will be held this year in Fort Lauderdale.\nThe National Urban League -- originally named the Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes -- was founded by Ruth Standish Baldwin and Dr. George Edmund Haynes, among others, on Sept. 29, 1910. It later merged with the Committee for the Improvement of Industrial Conditions Among Negroes in New York and the National League for the Protection of Colored Women to be renamed the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes. The organization took its present name in 1920.\n\nThe National Urban League's annual four-day conference, from July 29 to Aug. 1 at the Broward Convention Center, draws U.S. politicians, policymakers and academicians from across the country to find solutions to issues affecting Blacks and urban communitiesThe theme of this year's conference is \"Save Our Cities: Education, Jobs and Justice.\" The event will include empowerment sessions, workshops, an expo hall, career and networking fair and young professional summit. It is expected to attract between 5,000 and 10,000 attendants and bring about $10 million in economic impact.\n
\"We're excited to host the conference this year because it will bring national media attention to our area and offer practical solutions to education, jobs and social issues,\" Smith-Baugh said. \"It also coincides with a big milestone for us as the Urban League of Broward County celebrates 40 years of service breaking the cycle of poverty in the community.\"<\/blockquote>","post_title":"Civil rights the core of Smith-Baugh's career","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"civil-rights-the-core-of-smith-baughs-career","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=757","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":740,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 14:39:59","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 14:39:59","post_content":"Damion Jackson found his calling working with transplant patients.\u00a0Teaching two university classes a semester and handling business development and community outreach in the country\u2019s largest transplant center seems like a lot for one person to handle, but that\u2019s just a day in the life of Damion Jackson.\n\nFor several years now, the 44-year-old has deftly managed to marry his two passions \u2013 health care advocacy and business. It\u2019s what he feels he was meant to do ever since he started his professional career.\n\nThe collective model we have is no patient should ever die waiting for a transplant.\n\u201cNot really sure how I find the time, but I love both roles,\u201d said Jackson. \u201cNeither really feels like work in the traditional sense of the word.\u201d<\/blockquote>\nJackson grew up in Allapattah and Carol City as the son of a nurse, and has spent most of his life in Miami. He received a bachelor\u2019s degree in law from the University of Miami, but it was health care \u2013 and not jurisprudence \u2013 that claimed his interest.\n\nA job as a patient advocate for end-stage renal patients in the poor communities of central Florida and then Miami gave him his first taste of the industry. The work included writing letters for prescription discounts, finding housing and resolving transportation issues. A later role as a patient relations liaison at Mount Sinai Hospital, again working with end-stage renal patients, nudged him further down that road.\nWhat cemented his path and commitment to community was seeing patients finally receive a life-saving transplant, only to be mired down by exorbitantly priced medications that insurance wouldn\u2019t cover.\n\n\u201cThose types of issues were the ones that really rocked me to my core,\u201d said Jackson.\n\nHe eventually went back to school to earn a doctorate in health care education from Nova Southeastern University and then, in 2016, found himself in charge of community health education for chronically ill patients at Memorial Hospital South.\n\nThree years later, the Miami Transplant Institute, an affiliation between Jackson Health System and UHealth, landed on Jackson\u2019s radar.\n\n\u201cI think this is the truest definition of serendipitous,\u201d he said. \u201cI saw the position at Miami Transplant Institute and it gave me an opportunity to do business development, community outreach and health care.\u201d\n\nThe role was in line with everything Jackson had been working toward, and after a close friend underwent a transplant, he knew it was his next step.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t even necessarily think I found the job,\u201d he said. \u201cThe job found me.\u201d\nJackson wears his title like a badge of honor, and is proud to be a part of something bigger than himself.\n\u201cThe collective model we have is no patient should ever die waiting for a transplant,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cAnd we work toward that goal every single day.\u201d\n\nDual roles as a lecturer at UM and as an adjunct professor at Florida International University are an extension of his work. He\u2019s taught patient advocacy at the former for almost five years, and teaches global health and health informatics at FIU, where his undergraduate classes often have upward of 25 students. Graduate classes aren\u2019t as hefty, but they are no less demanding.\n\u201cI have a wealth of content [to share],\u201d he said, \u201cand I\u2019m applying the things that I see and experience day to day to the coursework.\u201d\n\n\u00a0This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em>","post_title":"Damion Jackson is a voice for transplant patients","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"damion-jackson-is-a-voice-for-transplant-patients","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_modified_gmt":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=740","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":742,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 14:33:21","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 14:33:21","post_content":"When Latin star Amara Le Negra decided to join the cast of \u201cLove and Hip Hop: Miami,\u201d she saw an outlet to the mainstream market. Le Negra\u2019s debut made a huge impact on viewers of the cable TV show not only for her talent but also because she took on one of the most-controversial topics: colorism.\nColorism is discrimination based on skin tone. Colorism traces back to slavery when slave masters would give fairer skin slaves better treatment, such as being allowed to work indoors. It is an ism that categorizes Black and Brown people by the amount of melanin in their skin.\n\n\u201cIt really makes me feel like it\u2019s unfair that we are judged based on our looks and not just our talent or knowledge,\u201d the singer, dancer and actress told The Miami Times<\/em>. Le Negra whose real name is Dana Danelys De Los Santos has cocoa-brown skin and grey eyes. She is often seen wearing her hair in a grand Afro.\n\nDuring one of the first episodes of the reality show, \u201cLove and Hip Hop: Miami,\u201d Le Negra was criticized for her hair style.\u00a0During an exchange with producer Young Hollywood, he told Le Negra if she changed her appearance to look like singer, Beyonce\u2019s, she could be \u201celegant and breathtaking.\u201d Beyonce is often seen with blonde or light-colored hair, which she wears in a variety of styles, excluding Afros.\n\n\u201cSo, are you saying that I cannot be elegant with an Afro?\u201d Le Negra asked her cast member on the episode to which, he replied yes.\n\nLe Negra, who is of Dominican descent, said that growing up in Hialeah, she didn\u2019t feel different because Miami has a diverse community of Latin Americans.\n\nBut in the Latin entertainment industry things were contrary.\n\n\u201cThere weren\u2019t any people who looked liked me; there weren\u2019t even people who looked even a little bit lighter because you were still too dark for what they consider an Afro-Latina to look like,\u201d said Le Negra, who started acting at 4.<\/blockquote>\n\u201cThey never knew where to place me because they would put me all the way in the back or in the middle, so I wouldn\u2019t take the attention or the focus of the audience.\u201d\nLe Negra, 29, said being vocal about the unfairness of colorism and any injustice has always been her mission.\n\nBeing a leader also comes with great responsibility, she added.\nAt a viewing for the second episode of the show in January 2018, Le Negra met a girl who said she was inspired by seeing Le Negra on the TV screen.\n\n\u201cShe came and hugged me, and she started crying and said to me that she didn\u2019t feel as beautiful because she was being bullied in school,\u201d said Le Negra. \u201cShe looked at me, and I looked pretty in her eyes.\u201d\n\nLe Negra remembers having that feeling herself growing up. She was able to find a role model in Celia Cruz, an Afro-Cuban singer.\nIt is important that children see images of themselves in media, she said. \u201cWhat would happen to those little girls growing up now? Will they have someone to look up to within their own community?\u201d\n\nAs a result, Le Negra has published a children\u2019s book \u201cAmacita\u2019s Way,\u201d which promotes positive self-image in dark-skinned children. On the cover is an illustration of a girl, who looks like the cartoon version of Le Negra.\u00a0She wants to take the Amacita to the next level, and create a cartoon show with the Afro-Latina version of \u201cDora the Explorer.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat would truly be a dream come true for me,\u201d she said.","post_title":"She spoke in defense of her Afro","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"she-spoke-in-defense-of-her-afro","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_modified_gmt":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=742","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"};
\nThrough his involvement with that organization, Pigatt caught a break and got a conditional admission into Morehouse College in Atlanta. That bit of good fortune was the spark he needed.
\u201cI had a 2.7 GPA and all loans the first two years. I was on academic probation, so I had to pass every class, or I would be sent home,\u201d he said. The Morehouse experience taught him leadership that would later inspire him to run for political office. \u201cMorehouse says we must be candles in the dark,\u201d said Pigatt. After graduation, he lived in Washington, D.C., and worked as a researcher, before returning to South Florida. He eventually settled in Opa-locka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But his introduction to the City Commission in late 2014 was rocky. He peppered the commissioners with questions about the late Terence Pinder, who was re-elected to the commission, after being removed in 2006 on public corruption charges. His victory came with conditions from the state attorney\u2019s office that Pinder could not vote on any ordinances or resolutions involving finances.
That didn\u2019t sit well with Pigatt. \u201cHow did we elect someone who can\u2019t do their job?\u201d Pigatt asked. That question caused an uproar that nearly led to an altercation with another audience member.
\u201cI went to three meetings, and two of them I was threatened with going to jail,\u201d said Pigatt. \u201cI was asking questions and I guess I ruffled feathers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now Pigatt is the youngest member of the Opa-locka dais. He brands himself as a new breed of lawmaker. Some constituents agree. \u201cHe\u2019s doing an amazing job,\u201d said Natasha English-Erving, a longtime resident. \u201cWe could use people with a vision for the city. What I love most is his eagerness to teach. He educates people on what\u2019s on the agenda, how to understand the agenda, and how to understand politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pigatt is in his second year with the commission. The road is sometimes still rocky. He has been on the losing side of some issues. A recent attempt by him to replace the city manager failed 4-1. English-Erving has noticed. \u201cHe\u2019s the most-disrespected person who sits on that panel,\u201d she said.
Pigatt seems undaunted. Once a month, he visits a different spot in the city and talks with residents about their issues and also upcoming legislation. He hopes to encourage them to get involved as constituents or possible commission candidates.
\u201cWe need more people engaged in office, and we need more people to run for office,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need a new generation of leadership desperately in Opa-locka.<\/p>\n","post_title":"From mentee to mentor","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"from-mentee-to-mentor","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=783","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>\nIf 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
\nI always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nArmstrong\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>\nBecause 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>\nThis 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"},{"ID":757,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 15:03:34","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 15:03:34","post_content":"As the president and CEO of the Urban League of Broward County, Dr. Germaine Smith-Baugh leads the organization's efforts to assist Broward County's Black community to achieve social and economic equality.\n\nAn affiliate of the National Urban League -- the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States based in New York City -- the Urban League of Broward County has been empowering communities and changing lives in the areas of education, jobs, housing and health for 40 years. Smith-Baugh has been a committed advocate for economic growth and stability for families for almost 20 of those years. A graduate of Florida State University, she first joined the Broward Urban League as a program coordinator in 1996.\n\nSince then, Smith-Baugh has helped implement many ideas, cultivate relationships and expand funding sources for the Urban League. She launched a multi-million dollar campaign to expand the Urban League\u2019s programs and services through the construction of a new Community Empowerment Center, which opened in April 2012.\n\n\"What's kept my passion and commitment for public service alive all these years is the innovation and integrity the Urban League has,\" Smith-Baugh said. \"I'm a social worker and to see the impact we've had on children and families in Broward rejuvenates me.\"\n\nThese days, Smith-Baugh is helping with fundraising and recruiting hundreds of volunteers and sponsors for this summer's National Urban League Conference, which will be held this year in Fort Lauderdale.\nThe National Urban League -- originally named the Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes -- was founded by Ruth Standish Baldwin and Dr. George Edmund Haynes, among others, on Sept. 29, 1910. It later merged with the Committee for the Improvement of Industrial Conditions Among Negroes in New York and the National League for the Protection of Colored Women to be renamed the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes. The organization took its present name in 1920.\n\nThe National Urban League's annual four-day conference, from July 29 to Aug. 1 at the Broward Convention Center, draws U.S. politicians, policymakers and academicians from across the country to find solutions to issues affecting Blacks and urban communitiesThe theme of this year's conference is \"Save Our Cities: Education, Jobs and Justice.\" The event will include empowerment sessions, workshops, an expo hall, career and networking fair and young professional summit. It is expected to attract between 5,000 and 10,000 attendants and bring about $10 million in economic impact.\n
\"We're excited to host the conference this year because it will bring national media attention to our area and offer practical solutions to education, jobs and social issues,\" Smith-Baugh said. \"It also coincides with a big milestone for us as the Urban League of Broward County celebrates 40 years of service breaking the cycle of poverty in the community.\"<\/blockquote>","post_title":"Civil rights the core of Smith-Baugh's career","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"civil-rights-the-core-of-smith-baughs-career","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=757","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":740,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 14:39:59","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 14:39:59","post_content":"Damion Jackson found his calling working with transplant patients.\u00a0Teaching two university classes a semester and handling business development and community outreach in the country\u2019s largest transplant center seems like a lot for one person to handle, but that\u2019s just a day in the life of Damion Jackson.\n\nFor several years now, the 44-year-old has deftly managed to marry his two passions \u2013 health care advocacy and business. It\u2019s what he feels he was meant to do ever since he started his professional career.\n\nThe collective model we have is no patient should ever die waiting for a transplant.\n\u201cNot really sure how I find the time, but I love both roles,\u201d said Jackson. \u201cNeither really feels like work in the traditional sense of the word.\u201d<\/blockquote>\nJackson grew up in Allapattah and Carol City as the son of a nurse, and has spent most of his life in Miami. He received a bachelor\u2019s degree in law from the University of Miami, but it was health care \u2013 and not jurisprudence \u2013 that claimed his interest.\n\nA job as a patient advocate for end-stage renal patients in the poor communities of central Florida and then Miami gave him his first taste of the industry. The work included writing letters for prescription discounts, finding housing and resolving transportation issues. A later role as a patient relations liaison at Mount Sinai Hospital, again working with end-stage renal patients, nudged him further down that road.\nWhat cemented his path and commitment to community was seeing patients finally receive a life-saving transplant, only to be mired down by exorbitantly priced medications that insurance wouldn\u2019t cover.\n\n\u201cThose types of issues were the ones that really rocked me to my core,\u201d said Jackson.\n\nHe eventually went back to school to earn a doctorate in health care education from Nova Southeastern University and then, in 2016, found himself in charge of community health education for chronically ill patients at Memorial Hospital South.\n\nThree years later, the Miami Transplant Institute, an affiliation between Jackson Health System and UHealth, landed on Jackson\u2019s radar.\n\n\u201cI think this is the truest definition of serendipitous,\u201d he said. \u201cI saw the position at Miami Transplant Institute and it gave me an opportunity to do business development, community outreach and health care.\u201d\n\nThe role was in line with everything Jackson had been working toward, and after a close friend underwent a transplant, he knew it was his next step.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t even necessarily think I found the job,\u201d he said. \u201cThe job found me.\u201d\nJackson wears his title like a badge of honor, and is proud to be a part of something bigger than himself.\n\u201cThe collective model we have is no patient should ever die waiting for a transplant,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cAnd we work toward that goal every single day.\u201d\n\nDual roles as a lecturer at UM and as an adjunct professor at Florida International University are an extension of his work. He\u2019s taught patient advocacy at the former for almost five years, and teaches global health and health informatics at FIU, where his undergraduate classes often have upward of 25 students. Graduate classes aren\u2019t as hefty, but they are no less demanding.\n\u201cI have a wealth of content [to share],\u201d he said, \u201cand I\u2019m applying the things that I see and experience day to day to the coursework.\u201d\n\n\u00a0This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em>","post_title":"Damion Jackson is a voice for transplant patients","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"damion-jackson-is-a-voice-for-transplant-patients","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_modified_gmt":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=740","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":742,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 14:33:21","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 14:33:21","post_content":"When Latin star Amara Le Negra decided to join the cast of \u201cLove and Hip Hop: Miami,\u201d she saw an outlet to the mainstream market. Le Negra\u2019s debut made a huge impact on viewers of the cable TV show not only for her talent but also because she took on one of the most-controversial topics: colorism.\nColorism is discrimination based on skin tone. Colorism traces back to slavery when slave masters would give fairer skin slaves better treatment, such as being allowed to work indoors. It is an ism that categorizes Black and Brown people by the amount of melanin in their skin.\n\n\u201cIt really makes me feel like it\u2019s unfair that we are judged based on our looks and not just our talent or knowledge,\u201d the singer, dancer and actress told The Miami Times<\/em>. Le Negra whose real name is Dana Danelys De Los Santos has cocoa-brown skin and grey eyes. She is often seen wearing her hair in a grand Afro.\n\nDuring one of the first episodes of the reality show, \u201cLove and Hip Hop: Miami,\u201d Le Negra was criticized for her hair style.\u00a0During an exchange with producer Young Hollywood, he told Le Negra if she changed her appearance to look like singer, Beyonce\u2019s, she could be \u201celegant and breathtaking.\u201d Beyonce is often seen with blonde or light-colored hair, which she wears in a variety of styles, excluding Afros.\n\n\u201cSo, are you saying that I cannot be elegant with an Afro?\u201d Le Negra asked her cast member on the episode to which, he replied yes.\n\nLe Negra, who is of Dominican descent, said that growing up in Hialeah, she didn\u2019t feel different because Miami has a diverse community of Latin Americans.\n\nBut in the Latin entertainment industry things were contrary.\n\n\u201cThere weren\u2019t any people who looked liked me; there weren\u2019t even people who looked even a little bit lighter because you were still too dark for what they consider an Afro-Latina to look like,\u201d said Le Negra, who started acting at 4.<\/blockquote>\n\u201cThey never knew where to place me because they would put me all the way in the back or in the middle, so I wouldn\u2019t take the attention or the focus of the audience.\u201d\nLe Negra, 29, said being vocal about the unfairness of colorism and any injustice has always been her mission.\n\nBeing a leader also comes with great responsibility, she added.\nAt a viewing for the second episode of the show in January 2018, Le Negra met a girl who said she was inspired by seeing Le Negra on the TV screen.\n\n\u201cShe came and hugged me, and she started crying and said to me that she didn\u2019t feel as beautiful because she was being bullied in school,\u201d said Le Negra. \u201cShe looked at me, and I looked pretty in her eyes.\u201d\n\nLe Negra remembers having that feeling herself growing up. She was able to find a role model in Celia Cruz, an Afro-Cuban singer.\nIt is important that children see images of themselves in media, she said. \u201cWhat would happen to those little girls growing up now? Will they have someone to look up to within their own community?\u201d\n\nAs a result, Le Negra has published a children\u2019s book \u201cAmacita\u2019s Way,\u201d which promotes positive self-image in dark-skinned children. On the cover is an illustration of a girl, who looks like the cartoon version of Le Negra.\u00a0She wants to take the Amacita to the next level, and create a cartoon show with the Afro-Latina version of \u201cDora the Explorer.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat would truly be a dream come true for me,\u201d she said.","post_title":"She spoke in defense of her Afro","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"she-spoke-in-defense-of-her-afro","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_modified_gmt":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=742","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"};
\nBut whatever it was caused him to catch a felony charge in a Miami-Dade County Courtroom. Somehow fate intervened, and his mother, Valerie, enrolled him in a leadership program with the 100 Black Men of South Florida. That experience connected him with professional Black males \u2014 people he said he rarely saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through his involvement with that organization, Pigatt caught a break and got a conditional admission into Morehouse College in Atlanta. That bit of good fortune was the spark he needed.
\u201cI had a 2.7 GPA and all loans the first two years. I was on academic probation, so I had to pass every class, or I would be sent home,\u201d he said. The Morehouse experience taught him leadership that would later inspire him to run for political office. \u201cMorehouse says we must be candles in the dark,\u201d said Pigatt. After graduation, he lived in Washington, D.C., and worked as a researcher, before returning to South Florida. He eventually settled in Opa-locka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But his introduction to the City Commission in late 2014 was rocky. He peppered the commissioners with questions about the late Terence Pinder, who was re-elected to the commission, after being removed in 2006 on public corruption charges. His victory came with conditions from the state attorney\u2019s office that Pinder could not vote on any ordinances or resolutions involving finances.
That didn\u2019t sit well with Pigatt. \u201cHow did we elect someone who can\u2019t do their job?\u201d Pigatt asked. That question caused an uproar that nearly led to an altercation with another audience member.
\u201cI went to three meetings, and two of them I was threatened with going to jail,\u201d said Pigatt. \u201cI was asking questions and I guess I ruffled feathers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now Pigatt is the youngest member of the Opa-locka dais. He brands himself as a new breed of lawmaker. Some constituents agree. \u201cHe\u2019s doing an amazing job,\u201d said Natasha English-Erving, a longtime resident. \u201cWe could use people with a vision for the city. What I love most is his eagerness to teach. He educates people on what\u2019s on the agenda, how to understand the agenda, and how to understand politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pigatt is in his second year with the commission. The road is sometimes still rocky. He has been on the losing side of some issues. A recent attempt by him to replace the city manager failed 4-1. English-Erving has noticed. \u201cHe\u2019s the most-disrespected person who sits on that panel,\u201d she said.
Pigatt seems undaunted. Once a month, he visits a different spot in the city and talks with residents about their issues and also upcoming legislation. He hopes to encourage them to get involved as constituents or possible commission candidates.
\u201cWe need more people engaged in office, and we need more people to run for office,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need a new generation of leadership desperately in Opa-locka.<\/p>\n","post_title":"From mentee to mentor","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"from-mentee-to-mentor","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=783","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>\nIf 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
\nI always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nArmstrong\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>\nBecause 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>\nThis 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"},{"ID":757,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 15:03:34","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 15:03:34","post_content":"As the president and CEO of the Urban League of Broward County, Dr. Germaine Smith-Baugh leads the organization's efforts to assist Broward County's Black community to achieve social and economic equality.\n\nAn affiliate of the National Urban League -- the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States based in New York City -- the Urban League of Broward County has been empowering communities and changing lives in the areas of education, jobs, housing and health for 40 years. Smith-Baugh has been a committed advocate for economic growth and stability for families for almost 20 of those years. A graduate of Florida State University, she first joined the Broward Urban League as a program coordinator in 1996.\n\nSince then, Smith-Baugh has helped implement many ideas, cultivate relationships and expand funding sources for the Urban League. She launched a multi-million dollar campaign to expand the Urban League\u2019s programs and services through the construction of a new Community Empowerment Center, which opened in April 2012.\n\n\"What's kept my passion and commitment for public service alive all these years is the innovation and integrity the Urban League has,\" Smith-Baugh said. \"I'm a social worker and to see the impact we've had on children and families in Broward rejuvenates me.\"\n\nThese days, Smith-Baugh is helping with fundraising and recruiting hundreds of volunteers and sponsors for this summer's National Urban League Conference, which will be held this year in Fort Lauderdale.\nThe National Urban League -- originally named the Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes -- was founded by Ruth Standish Baldwin and Dr. George Edmund Haynes, among others, on Sept. 29, 1910. It later merged with the Committee for the Improvement of Industrial Conditions Among Negroes in New York and the National League for the Protection of Colored Women to be renamed the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes. The organization took its present name in 1920.\n\nThe National Urban League's annual four-day conference, from July 29 to Aug. 1 at the Broward Convention Center, draws U.S. politicians, policymakers and academicians from across the country to find solutions to issues affecting Blacks and urban communitiesThe theme of this year's conference is \"Save Our Cities: Education, Jobs and Justice.\" The event will include empowerment sessions, workshops, an expo hall, career and networking fair and young professional summit. It is expected to attract between 5,000 and 10,000 attendants and bring about $10 million in economic impact.\n
\"We're excited to host the conference this year because it will bring national media attention to our area and offer practical solutions to education, jobs and social issues,\" Smith-Baugh said. \"It also coincides with a big milestone for us as the Urban League of Broward County celebrates 40 years of service breaking the cycle of poverty in the community.\"<\/blockquote>","post_title":"Civil rights the core of Smith-Baugh's career","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"civil-rights-the-core-of-smith-baughs-career","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=757","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":740,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 14:39:59","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 14:39:59","post_content":"Damion Jackson found his calling working with transplant patients.\u00a0Teaching two university classes a semester and handling business development and community outreach in the country\u2019s largest transplant center seems like a lot for one person to handle, but that\u2019s just a day in the life of Damion Jackson.\n\nFor several years now, the 44-year-old has deftly managed to marry his two passions \u2013 health care advocacy and business. It\u2019s what he feels he was meant to do ever since he started his professional career.\n\nThe collective model we have is no patient should ever die waiting for a transplant.\n\u201cNot really sure how I find the time, but I love both roles,\u201d said Jackson. \u201cNeither really feels like work in the traditional sense of the word.\u201d<\/blockquote>\nJackson grew up in Allapattah and Carol City as the son of a nurse, and has spent most of his life in Miami. He received a bachelor\u2019s degree in law from the University of Miami, but it was health care \u2013 and not jurisprudence \u2013 that claimed his interest.\n\nA job as a patient advocate for end-stage renal patients in the poor communities of central Florida and then Miami gave him his first taste of the industry. The work included writing letters for prescription discounts, finding housing and resolving transportation issues. A later role as a patient relations liaison at Mount Sinai Hospital, again working with end-stage renal patients, nudged him further down that road.\nWhat cemented his path and commitment to community was seeing patients finally receive a life-saving transplant, only to be mired down by exorbitantly priced medications that insurance wouldn\u2019t cover.\n\n\u201cThose types of issues were the ones that really rocked me to my core,\u201d said Jackson.\n\nHe eventually went back to school to earn a doctorate in health care education from Nova Southeastern University and then, in 2016, found himself in charge of community health education for chronically ill patients at Memorial Hospital South.\n\nThree years later, the Miami Transplant Institute, an affiliation between Jackson Health System and UHealth, landed on Jackson\u2019s radar.\n\n\u201cI think this is the truest definition of serendipitous,\u201d he said. \u201cI saw the position at Miami Transplant Institute and it gave me an opportunity to do business development, community outreach and health care.\u201d\n\nThe role was in line with everything Jackson had been working toward, and after a close friend underwent a transplant, he knew it was his next step.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t even necessarily think I found the job,\u201d he said. \u201cThe job found me.\u201d\nJackson wears his title like a badge of honor, and is proud to be a part of something bigger than himself.\n\u201cThe collective model we have is no patient should ever die waiting for a transplant,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cAnd we work toward that goal every single day.\u201d\n\nDual roles as a lecturer at UM and as an adjunct professor at Florida International University are an extension of his work. He\u2019s taught patient advocacy at the former for almost five years, and teaches global health and health informatics at FIU, where his undergraduate classes often have upward of 25 students. Graduate classes aren\u2019t as hefty, but they are no less demanding.\n\u201cI have a wealth of content [to share],\u201d he said, \u201cand I\u2019m applying the things that I see and experience day to day to the coursework.\u201d\n\n\u00a0This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em>","post_title":"Damion Jackson is a voice for transplant patients","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"damion-jackson-is-a-voice-for-transplant-patients","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_modified_gmt":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=740","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":742,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 14:33:21","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 14:33:21","post_content":"When Latin star Amara Le Negra decided to join the cast of \u201cLove and Hip Hop: Miami,\u201d she saw an outlet to the mainstream market. Le Negra\u2019s debut made a huge impact on viewers of the cable TV show not only for her talent but also because she took on one of the most-controversial topics: colorism.\nColorism is discrimination based on skin tone. Colorism traces back to slavery when slave masters would give fairer skin slaves better treatment, such as being allowed to work indoors. It is an ism that categorizes Black and Brown people by the amount of melanin in their skin.\n\n\u201cIt really makes me feel like it\u2019s unfair that we are judged based on our looks and not just our talent or knowledge,\u201d the singer, dancer and actress told The Miami Times<\/em>. Le Negra whose real name is Dana Danelys De Los Santos has cocoa-brown skin and grey eyes. She is often seen wearing her hair in a grand Afro.\n\nDuring one of the first episodes of the reality show, \u201cLove and Hip Hop: Miami,\u201d Le Negra was criticized for her hair style.\u00a0During an exchange with producer Young Hollywood, he told Le Negra if she changed her appearance to look like singer, Beyonce\u2019s, she could be \u201celegant and breathtaking.\u201d Beyonce is often seen with blonde or light-colored hair, which she wears in a variety of styles, excluding Afros.\n\n\u201cSo, are you saying that I cannot be elegant with an Afro?\u201d Le Negra asked her cast member on the episode to which, he replied yes.\n\nLe Negra, who is of Dominican descent, said that growing up in Hialeah, she didn\u2019t feel different because Miami has a diverse community of Latin Americans.\n\nBut in the Latin entertainment industry things were contrary.\n\n\u201cThere weren\u2019t any people who looked liked me; there weren\u2019t even people who looked even a little bit lighter because you were still too dark for what they consider an Afro-Latina to look like,\u201d said Le Negra, who started acting at 4.<\/blockquote>\n\u201cThey never knew where to place me because they would put me all the way in the back or in the middle, so I wouldn\u2019t take the attention or the focus of the audience.\u201d\nLe Negra, 29, said being vocal about the unfairness of colorism and any injustice has always been her mission.\n\nBeing a leader also comes with great responsibility, she added.\nAt a viewing for the second episode of the show in January 2018, Le Negra met a girl who said she was inspired by seeing Le Negra on the TV screen.\n\n\u201cShe came and hugged me, and she started crying and said to me that she didn\u2019t feel as beautiful because she was being bullied in school,\u201d said Le Negra. \u201cShe looked at me, and I looked pretty in her eyes.\u201d\n\nLe Negra remembers having that feeling herself growing up. She was able to find a role model in Celia Cruz, an Afro-Cuban singer.\nIt is important that children see images of themselves in media, she said. \u201cWhat would happen to those little girls growing up now? Will they have someone to look up to within their own community?\u201d\n\nAs a result, Le Negra has published a children\u2019s book \u201cAmacita\u2019s Way,\u201d which promotes positive self-image in dark-skinned children. On the cover is an illustration of a girl, who looks like the cartoon version of Le Negra.\u00a0She wants to take the Amacita to the next level, and create a cartoon show with the Afro-Latina version of \u201cDora the Explorer.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat would truly be a dream come true for me,\u201d she said.","post_title":"She spoke in defense of her Afro","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"she-spoke-in-defense-of-her-afro","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_modified_gmt":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=742","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"};
\n\u201cI was a young Black man like everyone else. I got caught up in the streets of South Florida,\u201d said Pigatt. He doesn\u2019t specify what he did; that\u2019s in the past, he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
But whatever it was caused him to catch a felony charge in a Miami-Dade County Courtroom. Somehow fate intervened, and his mother, Valerie, enrolled him in a leadership program with the 100 Black Men of South Florida. That experience connected him with professional Black males \u2014 people he said he rarely saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through his involvement with that organization, Pigatt caught a break and got a conditional admission into Morehouse College in Atlanta. That bit of good fortune was the spark he needed.
\u201cI had a 2.7 GPA and all loans the first two years. I was on academic probation, so I had to pass every class, or I would be sent home,\u201d he said. The Morehouse experience taught him leadership that would later inspire him to run for political office. \u201cMorehouse says we must be candles in the dark,\u201d said Pigatt. After graduation, he lived in Washington, D.C., and worked as a researcher, before returning to South Florida. He eventually settled in Opa-locka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But his introduction to the City Commission in late 2014 was rocky. He peppered the commissioners with questions about the late Terence Pinder, who was re-elected to the commission, after being removed in 2006 on public corruption charges. His victory came with conditions from the state attorney\u2019s office that Pinder could not vote on any ordinances or resolutions involving finances.
That didn\u2019t sit well with Pigatt. \u201cHow did we elect someone who can\u2019t do their job?\u201d Pigatt asked. That question caused an uproar that nearly led to an altercation with another audience member.
\u201cI went to three meetings, and two of them I was threatened with going to jail,\u201d said Pigatt. \u201cI was asking questions and I guess I ruffled feathers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now Pigatt is the youngest member of the Opa-locka dais. He brands himself as a new breed of lawmaker. Some constituents agree. \u201cHe\u2019s doing an amazing job,\u201d said Natasha English-Erving, a longtime resident. \u201cWe could use people with a vision for the city. What I love most is his eagerness to teach. He educates people on what\u2019s on the agenda, how to understand the agenda, and how to understand politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pigatt is in his second year with the commission. The road is sometimes still rocky. He has been on the losing side of some issues. A recent attempt by him to replace the city manager failed 4-1. English-Erving has noticed. \u201cHe\u2019s the most-disrespected person who sits on that panel,\u201d she said.
Pigatt seems undaunted. Once a month, he visits a different spot in the city and talks with residents about their issues and also upcoming legislation. He hopes to encourage them to get involved as constituents or possible commission candidates.
\u201cWe need more people engaged in office, and we need more people to run for office,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need a new generation of leadership desperately in Opa-locka.<\/p>\n","post_title":"From mentee to mentor","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"from-mentee-to-mentor","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=783","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>\nIf 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
\nI always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nArmstrong\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>\nBecause 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>\nThis 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"},{"ID":757,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 15:03:34","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 15:03:34","post_content":"As the president and CEO of the Urban League of Broward County, Dr. Germaine Smith-Baugh leads the organization's efforts to assist Broward County's Black community to achieve social and economic equality.\n\nAn affiliate of the National Urban League -- the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States based in New York City -- the Urban League of Broward County has been empowering communities and changing lives in the areas of education, jobs, housing and health for 40 years. Smith-Baugh has been a committed advocate for economic growth and stability for families for almost 20 of those years. A graduate of Florida State University, she first joined the Broward Urban League as a program coordinator in 1996.\n\nSince then, Smith-Baugh has helped implement many ideas, cultivate relationships and expand funding sources for the Urban League. She launched a multi-million dollar campaign to expand the Urban League\u2019s programs and services through the construction of a new Community Empowerment Center, which opened in April 2012.\n\n\"What's kept my passion and commitment for public service alive all these years is the innovation and integrity the Urban League has,\" Smith-Baugh said. \"I'm a social worker and to see the impact we've had on children and families in Broward rejuvenates me.\"\n\nThese days, Smith-Baugh is helping with fundraising and recruiting hundreds of volunteers and sponsors for this summer's National Urban League Conference, which will be held this year in Fort Lauderdale.\nThe National Urban League -- originally named the Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes -- was founded by Ruth Standish Baldwin and Dr. George Edmund Haynes, among others, on Sept. 29, 1910. It later merged with the Committee for the Improvement of Industrial Conditions Among Negroes in New York and the National League for the Protection of Colored Women to be renamed the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes. The organization took its present name in 1920.\n\nThe National Urban League's annual four-day conference, from July 29 to Aug. 1 at the Broward Convention Center, draws U.S. politicians, policymakers and academicians from across the country to find solutions to issues affecting Blacks and urban communitiesThe theme of this year's conference is \"Save Our Cities: Education, Jobs and Justice.\" The event will include empowerment sessions, workshops, an expo hall, career and networking fair and young professional summit. It is expected to attract between 5,000 and 10,000 attendants and bring about $10 million in economic impact.\n
\"We're excited to host the conference this year because it will bring national media attention to our area and offer practical solutions to education, jobs and social issues,\" Smith-Baugh said. \"It also coincides with a big milestone for us as the Urban League of Broward County celebrates 40 years of service breaking the cycle of poverty in the community.\"<\/blockquote>","post_title":"Civil rights the core of Smith-Baugh's career","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"civil-rights-the-core-of-smith-baughs-career","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=757","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":740,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 14:39:59","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 14:39:59","post_content":"Damion Jackson found his calling working with transplant patients.\u00a0Teaching two university classes a semester and handling business development and community outreach in the country\u2019s largest transplant center seems like a lot for one person to handle, but that\u2019s just a day in the life of Damion Jackson.\n\nFor several years now, the 44-year-old has deftly managed to marry his two passions \u2013 health care advocacy and business. It\u2019s what he feels he was meant to do ever since he started his professional career.\n\nThe collective model we have is no patient should ever die waiting for a transplant.\n\u201cNot really sure how I find the time, but I love both roles,\u201d said Jackson. \u201cNeither really feels like work in the traditional sense of the word.\u201d<\/blockquote>\nJackson grew up in Allapattah and Carol City as the son of a nurse, and has spent most of his life in Miami. He received a bachelor\u2019s degree in law from the University of Miami, but it was health care \u2013 and not jurisprudence \u2013 that claimed his interest.\n\nA job as a patient advocate for end-stage renal patients in the poor communities of central Florida and then Miami gave him his first taste of the industry. The work included writing letters for prescription discounts, finding housing and resolving transportation issues. A later role as a patient relations liaison at Mount Sinai Hospital, again working with end-stage renal patients, nudged him further down that road.\nWhat cemented his path and commitment to community was seeing patients finally receive a life-saving transplant, only to be mired down by exorbitantly priced medications that insurance wouldn\u2019t cover.\n\n\u201cThose types of issues were the ones that really rocked me to my core,\u201d said Jackson.\n\nHe eventually went back to school to earn a doctorate in health care education from Nova Southeastern University and then, in 2016, found himself in charge of community health education for chronically ill patients at Memorial Hospital South.\n\nThree years later, the Miami Transplant Institute, an affiliation between Jackson Health System and UHealth, landed on Jackson\u2019s radar.\n\n\u201cI think this is the truest definition of serendipitous,\u201d he said. \u201cI saw the position at Miami Transplant Institute and it gave me an opportunity to do business development, community outreach and health care.\u201d\n\nThe role was in line with everything Jackson had been working toward, and after a close friend underwent a transplant, he knew it was his next step.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t even necessarily think I found the job,\u201d he said. \u201cThe job found me.\u201d\nJackson wears his title like a badge of honor, and is proud to be a part of something bigger than himself.\n\u201cThe collective model we have is no patient should ever die waiting for a transplant,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cAnd we work toward that goal every single day.\u201d\n\nDual roles as a lecturer at UM and as an adjunct professor at Florida International University are an extension of his work. He\u2019s taught patient advocacy at the former for almost five years, and teaches global health and health informatics at FIU, where his undergraduate classes often have upward of 25 students. Graduate classes aren\u2019t as hefty, but they are no less demanding.\n\u201cI have a wealth of content [to share],\u201d he said, \u201cand I\u2019m applying the things that I see and experience day to day to the coursework.\u201d\n\n\u00a0This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em>","post_title":"Damion Jackson is a voice for transplant patients","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"damion-jackson-is-a-voice-for-transplant-patients","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_modified_gmt":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=740","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":742,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 14:33:21","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 14:33:21","post_content":"When Latin star Amara Le Negra decided to join the cast of \u201cLove and Hip Hop: Miami,\u201d she saw an outlet to the mainstream market. Le Negra\u2019s debut made a huge impact on viewers of the cable TV show not only for her talent but also because she took on one of the most-controversial topics: colorism.\nColorism is discrimination based on skin tone. Colorism traces back to slavery when slave masters would give fairer skin slaves better treatment, such as being allowed to work indoors. It is an ism that categorizes Black and Brown people by the amount of melanin in their skin.\n\n\u201cIt really makes me feel like it\u2019s unfair that we are judged based on our looks and not just our talent or knowledge,\u201d the singer, dancer and actress told The Miami Times<\/em>. Le Negra whose real name is Dana Danelys De Los Santos has cocoa-brown skin and grey eyes. She is often seen wearing her hair in a grand Afro.\n\nDuring one of the first episodes of the reality show, \u201cLove and Hip Hop: Miami,\u201d Le Negra was criticized for her hair style.\u00a0During an exchange with producer Young Hollywood, he told Le Negra if she changed her appearance to look like singer, Beyonce\u2019s, she could be \u201celegant and breathtaking.\u201d Beyonce is often seen with blonde or light-colored hair, which she wears in a variety of styles, excluding Afros.\n\n\u201cSo, are you saying that I cannot be elegant with an Afro?\u201d Le Negra asked her cast member on the episode to which, he replied yes.\n\nLe Negra, who is of Dominican descent, said that growing up in Hialeah, she didn\u2019t feel different because Miami has a diverse community of Latin Americans.\n\nBut in the Latin entertainment industry things were contrary.\n\n\u201cThere weren\u2019t any people who looked liked me; there weren\u2019t even people who looked even a little bit lighter because you were still too dark for what they consider an Afro-Latina to look like,\u201d said Le Negra, who started acting at 4.<\/blockquote>\n\u201cThey never knew where to place me because they would put me all the way in the back or in the middle, so I wouldn\u2019t take the attention or the focus of the audience.\u201d\nLe Negra, 29, said being vocal about the unfairness of colorism and any injustice has always been her mission.\n\nBeing a leader also comes with great responsibility, she added.\nAt a viewing for the second episode of the show in January 2018, Le Negra met a girl who said she was inspired by seeing Le Negra on the TV screen.\n\n\u201cShe came and hugged me, and she started crying and said to me that she didn\u2019t feel as beautiful because she was being bullied in school,\u201d said Le Negra. \u201cShe looked at me, and I looked pretty in her eyes.\u201d\n\nLe Negra remembers having that feeling herself growing up. She was able to find a role model in Celia Cruz, an Afro-Cuban singer.\nIt is important that children see images of themselves in media, she said. \u201cWhat would happen to those little girls growing up now? Will they have someone to look up to within their own community?\u201d\n\nAs a result, Le Negra has published a children\u2019s book \u201cAmacita\u2019s Way,\u201d which promotes positive self-image in dark-skinned children. On the cover is an illustration of a girl, who looks like the cartoon version of Le Negra.\u00a0She wants to take the Amacita to the next level, and create a cartoon show with the Afro-Latina version of \u201cDora the Explorer.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat would truly be a dream come true for me,\u201d she said.","post_title":"She spoke in defense of her Afro","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"she-spoke-in-defense-of-her-afro","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_modified_gmt":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=742","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"};
\nFor Pigatt, it was a way of helping a young Black male the way someone helped him 15 years earlier when he faced much more serious problems as a wayward teenager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was a young Black man like everyone else. I got caught up in the streets of South Florida,\u201d said Pigatt. He doesn\u2019t specify what he did; that\u2019s in the past, he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
But whatever it was caused him to catch a felony charge in a Miami-Dade County Courtroom. Somehow fate intervened, and his mother, Valerie, enrolled him in a leadership program with the 100 Black Men of South Florida. That experience connected him with professional Black males \u2014 people he said he rarely saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through his involvement with that organization, Pigatt caught a break and got a conditional admission into Morehouse College in Atlanta. That bit of good fortune was the spark he needed.
\u201cI had a 2.7 GPA and all loans the first two years. I was on academic probation, so I had to pass every class, or I would be sent home,\u201d he said. The Morehouse experience taught him leadership that would later inspire him to run for political office. \u201cMorehouse says we must be candles in the dark,\u201d said Pigatt. After graduation, he lived in Washington, D.C., and worked as a researcher, before returning to South Florida. He eventually settled in Opa-locka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But his introduction to the City Commission in late 2014 was rocky. He peppered the commissioners with questions about the late Terence Pinder, who was re-elected to the commission, after being removed in 2006 on public corruption charges. His victory came with conditions from the state attorney\u2019s office that Pinder could not vote on any ordinances or resolutions involving finances.
That didn\u2019t sit well with Pigatt. \u201cHow did we elect someone who can\u2019t do their job?\u201d Pigatt asked. That question caused an uproar that nearly led to an altercation with another audience member.
\u201cI went to three meetings, and two of them I was threatened with going to jail,\u201d said Pigatt. \u201cI was asking questions and I guess I ruffled feathers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now Pigatt is the youngest member of the Opa-locka dais. He brands himself as a new breed of lawmaker. Some constituents agree. \u201cHe\u2019s doing an amazing job,\u201d said Natasha English-Erving, a longtime resident. \u201cWe could use people with a vision for the city. What I love most is his eagerness to teach. He educates people on what\u2019s on the agenda, how to understand the agenda, and how to understand politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pigatt is in his second year with the commission. The road is sometimes still rocky. He has been on the losing side of some issues. A recent attempt by him to replace the city manager failed 4-1. English-Erving has noticed. \u201cHe\u2019s the most-disrespected person who sits on that panel,\u201d she said.
Pigatt seems undaunted. Once a month, he visits a different spot in the city and talks with residents about their issues and also upcoming legislation. He hopes to encourage them to get involved as constituents or possible commission candidates.
\u201cWe need more people engaged in office, and we need more people to run for office,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need a new generation of leadership desperately in Opa-locka.<\/p>\n","post_title":"From mentee to mentor","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"from-mentee-to-mentor","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=783","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>\nIf 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
\nI always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nArmstrong\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>\nBecause 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>\nThis 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"},{"ID":757,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 15:03:34","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 15:03:34","post_content":"As the president and CEO of the Urban League of Broward County, Dr. Germaine Smith-Baugh leads the organization's efforts to assist Broward County's Black community to achieve social and economic equality.\n\nAn affiliate of the National Urban League -- the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States based in New York City -- the Urban League of Broward County has been empowering communities and changing lives in the areas of education, jobs, housing and health for 40 years. Smith-Baugh has been a committed advocate for economic growth and stability for families for almost 20 of those years. A graduate of Florida State University, she first joined the Broward Urban League as a program coordinator in 1996.\n\nSince then, Smith-Baugh has helped implement many ideas, cultivate relationships and expand funding sources for the Urban League. She launched a multi-million dollar campaign to expand the Urban League\u2019s programs and services through the construction of a new Community Empowerment Center, which opened in April 2012.\n\n\"What's kept my passion and commitment for public service alive all these years is the innovation and integrity the Urban League has,\" Smith-Baugh said. \"I'm a social worker and to see the impact we've had on children and families in Broward rejuvenates me.\"\n\nThese days, Smith-Baugh is helping with fundraising and recruiting hundreds of volunteers and sponsors for this summer's National Urban League Conference, which will be held this year in Fort Lauderdale.\nThe National Urban League -- originally named the Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes -- was founded by Ruth Standish Baldwin and Dr. George Edmund Haynes, among others, on Sept. 29, 1910. It later merged with the Committee for the Improvement of Industrial Conditions Among Negroes in New York and the National League for the Protection of Colored Women to be renamed the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes. The organization took its present name in 1920.\n\nThe National Urban League's annual four-day conference, from July 29 to Aug. 1 at the Broward Convention Center, draws U.S. politicians, policymakers and academicians from across the country to find solutions to issues affecting Blacks and urban communitiesThe theme of this year's conference is \"Save Our Cities: Education, Jobs and Justice.\" The event will include empowerment sessions, workshops, an expo hall, career and networking fair and young professional summit. It is expected to attract between 5,000 and 10,000 attendants and bring about $10 million in economic impact.\n
\"We're excited to host the conference this year because it will bring national media attention to our area and offer practical solutions to education, jobs and social issues,\" Smith-Baugh said. \"It also coincides with a big milestone for us as the Urban League of Broward County celebrates 40 years of service breaking the cycle of poverty in the community.\"<\/blockquote>","post_title":"Civil rights the core of Smith-Baugh's career","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"civil-rights-the-core-of-smith-baughs-career","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=757","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":740,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 14:39:59","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 14:39:59","post_content":"Damion Jackson found his calling working with transplant patients.\u00a0Teaching two university classes a semester and handling business development and community outreach in the country\u2019s largest transplant center seems like a lot for one person to handle, but that\u2019s just a day in the life of Damion Jackson.\n\nFor several years now, the 44-year-old has deftly managed to marry his two passions \u2013 health care advocacy and business. It\u2019s what he feels he was meant to do ever since he started his professional career.\n\nThe collective model we have is no patient should ever die waiting for a transplant.\n\u201cNot really sure how I find the time, but I love both roles,\u201d said Jackson. \u201cNeither really feels like work in the traditional sense of the word.\u201d<\/blockquote>\nJackson grew up in Allapattah and Carol City as the son of a nurse, and has spent most of his life in Miami. He received a bachelor\u2019s degree in law from the University of Miami, but it was health care \u2013 and not jurisprudence \u2013 that claimed his interest.\n\nA job as a patient advocate for end-stage renal patients in the poor communities of central Florida and then Miami gave him his first taste of the industry. The work included writing letters for prescription discounts, finding housing and resolving transportation issues. A later role as a patient relations liaison at Mount Sinai Hospital, again working with end-stage renal patients, nudged him further down that road.\nWhat cemented his path and commitment to community was seeing patients finally receive a life-saving transplant, only to be mired down by exorbitantly priced medications that insurance wouldn\u2019t cover.\n\n\u201cThose types of issues were the ones that really rocked me to my core,\u201d said Jackson.\n\nHe eventually went back to school to earn a doctorate in health care education from Nova Southeastern University and then, in 2016, found himself in charge of community health education for chronically ill patients at Memorial Hospital South.\n\nThree years later, the Miami Transplant Institute, an affiliation between Jackson Health System and UHealth, landed on Jackson\u2019s radar.\n\n\u201cI think this is the truest definition of serendipitous,\u201d he said. \u201cI saw the position at Miami Transplant Institute and it gave me an opportunity to do business development, community outreach and health care.\u201d\n\nThe role was in line with everything Jackson had been working toward, and after a close friend underwent a transplant, he knew it was his next step.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t even necessarily think I found the job,\u201d he said. \u201cThe job found me.\u201d\nJackson wears his title like a badge of honor, and is proud to be a part of something bigger than himself.\n\u201cThe collective model we have is no patient should ever die waiting for a transplant,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cAnd we work toward that goal every single day.\u201d\n\nDual roles as a lecturer at UM and as an adjunct professor at Florida International University are an extension of his work. He\u2019s taught patient advocacy at the former for almost five years, and teaches global health and health informatics at FIU, where his undergraduate classes often have upward of 25 students. Graduate classes aren\u2019t as hefty, but they are no less demanding.\n\u201cI have a wealth of content [to share],\u201d he said, \u201cand I\u2019m applying the things that I see and experience day to day to the coursework.\u201d\n\n\u00a0This story was written for The Miami Times by Florida International University\u2019s South Florida Media Network.<\/em>","post_title":"Damion Jackson is a voice for transplant patients","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"damion-jackson-is-a-voice-for-transplant-patients","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_modified_gmt":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=740","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":742,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2022-02-07 14:33:21","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-07 14:33:21","post_content":"When Latin star Amara Le Negra decided to join the cast of \u201cLove and Hip Hop: Miami,\u201d she saw an outlet to the mainstream market. Le Negra\u2019s debut made a huge impact on viewers of the cable TV show not only for her talent but also because she took on one of the most-controversial topics: colorism.\nColorism is discrimination based on skin tone. Colorism traces back to slavery when slave masters would give fairer skin slaves better treatment, such as being allowed to work indoors. It is an ism that categorizes Black and Brown people by the amount of melanin in their skin.\n\n\u201cIt really makes me feel like it\u2019s unfair that we are judged based on our looks and not just our talent or knowledge,\u201d the singer, dancer and actress told The Miami Times<\/em>. Le Negra whose real name is Dana Danelys De Los Santos has cocoa-brown skin and grey eyes. She is often seen wearing her hair in a grand Afro.\n\nDuring one of the first episodes of the reality show, \u201cLove and Hip Hop: Miami,\u201d Le Negra was criticized for her hair style.\u00a0During an exchange with producer Young Hollywood, he told Le Negra if she changed her appearance to look like singer, Beyonce\u2019s, she could be \u201celegant and breathtaking.\u201d Beyonce is often seen with blonde or light-colored hair, which she wears in a variety of styles, excluding Afros.\n\n\u201cSo, are you saying that I cannot be elegant with an Afro?\u201d Le Negra asked her cast member on the episode to which, he replied yes.\n\nLe Negra, who is of Dominican descent, said that growing up in Hialeah, she didn\u2019t feel different because Miami has a diverse community of Latin Americans.\n\nBut in the Latin entertainment industry things were contrary.\n\n\u201cThere weren\u2019t any people who looked liked me; there weren\u2019t even people who looked even a little bit lighter because you were still too dark for what they consider an Afro-Latina to look like,\u201d said Le Negra, who started acting at 4.<\/blockquote>\n\u201cThey never knew where to place me because they would put me all the way in the back or in the middle, so I wouldn\u2019t take the attention or the focus of the audience.\u201d\nLe Negra, 29, said being vocal about the unfairness of colorism and any injustice has always been her mission.\n\nBeing a leader also comes with great responsibility, she added.\nAt a viewing for the second episode of the show in January 2018, Le Negra met a girl who said she was inspired by seeing Le Negra on the TV screen.\n\n\u201cShe came and hugged me, and she started crying and said to me that she didn\u2019t feel as beautiful because she was being bullied in school,\u201d said Le Negra. \u201cShe looked at me, and I looked pretty in her eyes.\u201d\n\nLe Negra remembers having that feeling herself growing up. She was able to find a role model in Celia Cruz, an Afro-Cuban singer.\nIt is important that children see images of themselves in media, she said. \u201cWhat would happen to those little girls growing up now? Will they have someone to look up to within their own community?\u201d\n\nAs a result, Le Negra has published a children\u2019s book \u201cAmacita\u2019s Way,\u201d which promotes positive self-image in dark-skinned children. On the cover is an illustration of a girl, who looks like the cartoon version of Le Negra.\u00a0She wants to take the Amacita to the next level, and create a cartoon show with the Afro-Latina version of \u201cDora the Explorer.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat would truly be a dream come true for me,\u201d she said.","post_title":"She spoke in defense of her Afro","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"she-spoke-in-defense-of-her-afro","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_modified_gmt":"2023-02-04 17:03:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/dreamersnextgen.live-website.com\/?p=742","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"};
\nFriends such as attorney Stephen Hunter Johnson aren\u2019t surprised. \u201cThat\u2019s Matthew. He\u2019s tireless, and he\u2019s willing to advocate for the community and constituents,\u201d said Johnson, president of the 100 Black Men of South Florida. \u201cAnd he\u2019s tireless for being an advocate for our boys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Pigatt, it was a way of helping a young Black male the way someone helped him 15 years earlier when he faced much more serious problems as a wayward teenager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was a young Black man like everyone else. I got caught up in the streets of South Florida,\u201d said Pigatt. He doesn\u2019t specify what he did; that\u2019s in the past, he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
But whatever it was caused him to catch a felony charge in a Miami-Dade County Courtroom. Somehow fate intervened, and his mother, Valerie, enrolled him in a leadership program with the 100 Black Men of South Florida. That experience connected him with professional Black males \u2014 people he said he rarely saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through his involvement with that organization, Pigatt caught a break and got a conditional admission into Morehouse College in Atlanta. That bit of good fortune was the spark he needed.
\u201cI had a 2.7 GPA and all loans the first two years. I was on academic probation, so I had to pass every class, or I would be sent home,\u201d he said. The Morehouse experience taught him leadership that would later inspire him to run for political office. \u201cMorehouse says we must be candles in the dark,\u201d said Pigatt. After graduation, he lived in Washington, D.C., and worked as a researcher, before returning to South Florida. He eventually settled in Opa-locka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But his introduction to the City Commission in late 2014 was rocky. He peppered the commissioners with questions about the late Terence Pinder, who was re-elected to the commission, after being removed in 2006 on public corruption charges. His victory came with conditions from the state attorney\u2019s office that Pinder could not vote on any ordinances or resolutions involving finances.
That didn\u2019t sit well with Pigatt. \u201cHow did we elect someone who can\u2019t do their job?\u201d Pigatt asked. That question caused an uproar that nearly led to an altercation with another audience member.
\u201cI went to three meetings, and two of them I was threatened with going to jail,\u201d said Pigatt. \u201cI was asking questions and I guess I ruffled feathers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now Pigatt is the youngest member of the Opa-locka dais. He brands himself as a new breed of lawmaker. Some constituents agree. \u201cHe\u2019s doing an amazing job,\u201d said Natasha English-Erving, a longtime resident. \u201cWe could use people with a vision for the city. What I love most is his eagerness to teach. He educates people on what\u2019s on the agenda, how to understand the agenda, and how to understand politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pigatt is in his second year with the commission. The road is sometimes still rocky. He has been on the losing side of some issues. A recent attempt by him to replace the city manager failed 4-1. English-Erving has noticed. \u201cHe\u2019s the most-disrespected person who sits on that panel,\u201d she said.
Pigatt seems undaunted. Once a month, he visits a different spot in the city and talks with residents about their issues and also upcoming legislation. He hopes to encourage them to get involved as constituents or possible commission candidates.
\u201cWe need more people engaged in office, and we need more people to run for office,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need a new generation of leadership desperately in Opa-locka.<\/p>\n","post_title":"From mentee to mentor","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"from-mentee-to-mentor","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=783","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>\nIf 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
\nI always knew my work had to be a reflection of my personal mission and core values.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nArmstrong\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>\nBecause 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
