From West Perrine to North Miami, Miami-Dade County’s Black community is a testament to our resilience and rich history. As your County Mayor, I am pleased to report that in the last fiscal year, my administration invested more than $573 million for capital projects that directly benefit majority-Black communities in Miami-Dade.

These include everything from funding for affordable housing development, to support for the Miami-Dade Economic Advisory Trust, and investments in infrastructure. Coupled with direct investments in community-based organizations and Black-owned media, we are working to ensure that everyone benefits from the growth and development of our County.

We continue to support Black-owned businesses and invested nearly $700,000 in local Black and Haitian-owned media to increase access to information for residents across Miami-Dade.

We’re building more housing people can afford. To date, we have secured $80 million in Choice Neighborhood Implementation federal grants to revitalize neighborhoods and add more affordable housing in Overtown, Goulds, and around the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Metrorail Station. We also continued funding of affordable housing preservation and expansion of homeownership opportunities in communities from Miami Gardens to Liberty City to Richmond Heights.

Together, we are building a more resilient Miami-Dade by connecting more homes and businesses to the sewer system. We’re improving Trash and Recycling Centers (TRCs) serving West Perrine, Richmond Heights, Golden Glades, and West Little River and making canal improvements in Opa-Locka and Florida City.

We are leading the way in public safety too. Continuing the Peace & Prosperity Plan, we are investing $90 million over 19 years in violence prevention, intervention and reentry initiatives, such as Fit2Lead which has employed nearly 2,000 at-risk or system-involved youth.

And we must continue to build an economy that works for all. We continued funding for projects in Targeted Urban Areas by providing more than $7 million for the Economic Development Fund. We’ve also made innovative developments to help small businesses and job seekers, like launching workforce.miami, a job-seeking platform, and expanding the Strive305 program to reach 75% of small businesses in Miami-Dade with resources and trainings by the end of this year.

Along with a strong economy, we need transportation that works for you. We moved forward to complete the South Dade TransitWay, the nation’s longest all-electric Bus Rapid Transit system between Florida City and Dadeland and expect service to begin this summer! We have also received key funding for the Northeast and North Rapid Transit Corridors.

Finally, we are a caring community and will stand firm together rooted in our shared history and culture. We broke ground on renovations for the historic Joseph Caleb Auditorium and secured $1 million in state funding for the African American Cultural and Historical Grants Program. We made important investments in key arts centers, public libraries, and government services in Black communities. And I’m very proud that in partnership with Miami-Dade Public Schools, the Children’s Trust and other community partners we launched Zero Drownings Miami-Dade – a drowning prevention program aiming to reach 20,000 children between 4-5 years old.

Across Miami-Dade, we are keeping our promises and making progress. I invite you to learn more at miamidade.gov/progress.

Daniella Levine Cava is mayor of Miami-Dade County.