I have been truly blessed to serve as president of the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce for the past eleven years. This year, the Chamber proudly celebrates its 51t anniversary. As significant as that milestone is, the Chamber’s journey has been one of resilience and persistence. We’ve long been nomadic—starting on 7th Avenue and 62nd Street and moving multiple times—thanks to the generosity of our donors.
Over the years, we’ve been housed in various locations: the Bank of America building formerly on Biscayne Boulevard, Miami Dade College, Florida East Coast Realty, and most recently, Barry University. Today, I am proud to share that we finally have a permanent home. We have returned to our roots in the heart of Liberty City, in a state-of-the-art facility on 15th Avenue and 64th Street, located within Liberty Square.
Our mission remains clear: to support Black, Brown, and women-owned businesses by providing technical assistance and the resources needed to start and grow successful enterprises.
Thanks to Related Urban, we became a partner in their successful bid to redevelop Liberty Square—the first and oldest public housing development for Black residents in the United States. The Chamber’s return to Liberty City could not be more timely. In today’s political climate, the Black business community is on life support—and in some cases, in triage.
Historically, areas like 15th Avenue in Miami-Dade County were thriving business districts. But many of these once-prosperous corridors—Overtown, Coconut Grove (Little Bahamas), Richmond Heights, and Little Haiti—have declined. Gentrification has replaced thriving Black business ecosystems in Overtown and Coconut Grove, leaving communities not just behind, but down for the count.
Urban Related and Liberty Square, however, have made a conscious choice to flip the script—partnering with the community and bringing in the Miami-Dade Chamber, Jessie Trice Community Health System, and Black contractors to participate in this renaissance.
Recently, I attended a conference in Philadelphia with Main Street America, where Mayor Cherelle Parker highlighted that the city has over 150 Main Streets. These corridors act as the arteries of the city— the life blood pumping economic vitality to its heart. When I think of Miami’s own arteries—Wynwood, Midtown, the Design District—our communities are too often absent from the conversation.
We are atrophied.
When the Black diaspora in South Florida have friends and relatives that come into town , we struggle to offer a cohesive Black experience, or it’s disjointed at best. We don’t need tariffs in the Black community—we need Black businesses. When Black businesses grow, Black communities flourish.
I salute Mussaddique Mohammed for weathering the storm and building Harlem Square—for us, by us. I salute Terri Elliott, a long-standing pillar on 15th Avenue who continues to celebrate our community. It is time to celebrate the magic within us. It is time we stop being the obstacle and become the catalyst for the change we seek.
Miami Gardens—the largest predominantly Black city in Florida—is rapidly becoming a beacon on a hill, a city with a bright future and an example for others to follow.
It begins on 15th Avenue and on 18th Avenue. It begins in Overtown, in Little Haiti, and on Sistrunk. It begins when we come together to support one another—when we demand that our Community Redevelopment Agencies (CRAs) lift up those who are willing and able to reignite our Black Wall Streets.
Given the current climate, we must return to the days when we had no other choice but to support businesses within our own community. But support must be paired with excellence—we must deliver first-class customer service and operate with integrity. While grace is important, we cannot afford to lower the bar for ourselves.
Sometimes, life gives you only one shot to knock it out of the park. We must be the surgeons who triage our communities—who work to restore the flow of economic life through our Main Streets. We can no longer accept clogged arteries and collapsed veins.
The time to act is now.
Eric Knowles
President & CEO
Miami Dade Chamber of Commerce
