Tipping Point: the Past, Present, and Future of Catalyst Miami
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Tipping Point: The Past, Present, and Future of Catalyst Miami A Case Study Developed for the Kresge Foundation’s Next Generation Human Services Initiative Contents At A “Tipping Point”: The Past, Present, and Future of Catalyst Miami . 3 “A Perfect Storm of Issues”—Background on Miami-Dade County . 5 1995 – 2002: Launching Catalyst Miami . 9 2013 – 2016: A Leadership Transition and The Start of A New Era . 15 2017 – 2018: Hurricane Irma, Strategic Planning, and Work With Local Government . 20 2019: Impact, Evaluation, Culture, and The Path Ahead . 23 2 At A “Tipping Point”: The Past, Present, and Future of Catalyst Miami At A “Tipping Point”: The Past, Present, and Future of Catalyst Miami One day in October 2017, Gretchen Beesing, the Chief Executive Officer of Catalyst Miami, was reading the Miami Herald when she came across a startling photo . It showed tens of thousands of people waiting outside a local park in sweltering heat, hoping to access post-disaster food stamps 1. The immediate cause for this need was Hurricane Irma, a severe storm that had avoided making a direct hit in Miami but had triggered extensive evacuations and caused widespread flooding, power outages, and transportation issues that had resulted in many people missing work for weeks .2, 3 Nonetheless, for Beesing, the image was also a harbinger of another looming—and potentially more severe— storm. “When I saw the crowd,” Beesing recalled, “I thought, ‘This is about financial insecurity.’ When you have 50,000 people that make too much money to get public benefits lining up when it’s hot as hell outside, it’s pretty significant.”4 This image—and the issues it symbolized—resonated forcefully with Beesing for several reasons . First, combatting financial insecurity cut at the heart of Catalyst Miami’s mission “to identify and collectively solve issues adversely affecting low-wealth communities throughout Miami-Dade County.”5 Second, the storm was a reminder of the threat 1 Personal communication by e-mail with Gretchen Beesing, CEO, Catalyst Miami, June 17, 2019; Elizabeth Koh and Alex Harris, “It hasn’t been easy to get food aid after Irma . You now have a second chance,” Miami Herald, November 7, 2013, available at https://www miamiherald. com/news/local/. article183221681 html. (accessed on June 18, 2019); and Glenn Garvin, “50,000 line up outside Tropical Park seeking post-hurricane food assistance,” October 15, 2017, available at https://www miamiherald. com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article178996361. html. (accessed on June 18, 2019) . 2 “Irma: A Hurricane for the History Books,” CNN, available at https://www cnn. com/specials/hurricane-irma. (accessed on June 17, 2019); David Adams, “Hurricane Irma’s track ‘locked onto’ Miami area according to forecast models,” Univision News, September 7, 2017, available at https://www univision. com/. univision-news/united-states/hurricane-irmas-track-locked-onto-miami-area-according-to-forecast-models (accessed on June 17, 2019); and Alexander Gonzales and Tom Hudson, “A Year Later, Hurricane Irma Leaves Lasting Impact in South Florida,” LRN, September 7, 2018, available at https://www wlrn. org/post/year-later-hurricane-irma-leaves-lasting-impact-south-florida (accessed on June 17, 2019) . 3 A category-5 hurricane in portions of the Caribbean, Hurricane Irma made landfall in southwest Florida as a category-3 storm . By the time the storm reached Miami, the winds had decreased substantially . “Hurricane Irma Synopsis – Detailed Meteorological Summary on Hurricane Irma,” National Weather Service, available at https://www weather. gov/tae/Irma_technical_summary. (accessed on July 22, 2019) . 4 Interview with Gretchen Beesing, CEO, Catalyst Miami, by telephone, June 16, 2019 . Unless noted, subsequent quotations from and attributions to Beesing come from this telephone interview and other interviews, also conducted by telephone in 2018 and 2019 . 5 “Our Work – What We Do,” Catalyst Miami, available at https://catalystmiami org/our-work/what-we-do/. (accessed on June 17, 2019) . Leadership For A Networked Wold 3 that climate change posed to Miami-Dade County’s low-wealth communities, a challenge Catalyst had begun tackling two years earlier .6 Finally, many believed that the organization was, as Beesing said, approaching “a tipping point .” This was in part because of recent growth that had increased the organization’s size and stature. It also stemmed from the fact that Catalyst Miami was in the midst of a strategic planning process, begun earlier in 2017, that would have a major impact on the organization’s approach. Thus, the image was not just a reminder of the depth of the problems that Catalyst Miami was confronting but also a call to action to seize the moment . Recognizing this, Beesing forwarded the article to her staff and began jotting down a list of key questions to address with them and other stakeholders . Among them: How should the organization structure partnerships and reinforce networks with other stakeholders to advance its goals? What changes needed to be made to the organizational culture and evaluation efforts? What should Catalyst Miami do to promote racial equity? How should the organization reinforce its existing efforts to help the community build resilience given the threat of climate change, reflected in part by increasingly severe storms like Hurricane Irma? Most fundamentally, how could the organization help Miamians of low-wealth prepare for future storms, literally and figuratively? 6 For a more detailed chronology of Catalyst Miami’s work on climate resilience (and an overview of the organization’s broader development), see “Catalyst Miami History,” available at https://catalystmiami org/our-story/history/. (accessed on July 24, 2019) . 4 At A “Tipping Point”: The Past, Present, and Future of Catalyst Miami “A Perfect Storm of Issues”—Background on Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County is large, highly populous, and geographically and demographically diverse . The southern-most county in the continental United States, it stretches from Biscayne Bay in the east to Everglades National Park in the west and is bounded by Broward County and the Florida Keys to the north and south, respectively .7 Its footprint—which occupies approximately 2,000 square miles—ranges from urban areas (such as downtown Miami) to rural agricultural regions to a Native American community 8. In 2018, the county was home to approximately 2 76. million people, 52 9. percent of whom were born outside the United States 9. This reflected the region’s popularity as a destination for Latin American and Caribbean immigrants, which had contributed to the formation of a number of cultural enclaves, such as Little Havana and Little Haiti 10. While Miami-Dade County had many strengths (including tropical weather, beautiful beaches, and a sizable economy), it was grappling with numerous challenges, most notably a significant wealth gap. In 2018, 16.7 percent of the population lived in poverty, and according to a 2019 United Way study, “40 percent of Miami-Dade households [were] struggling to pay for basic necessities ”. 11 Meanwhile, the area was home to 30 billionaires, contributing to a finding by researchers from Florida International University and New York University that Miami had the second-largest 7 Mark Osborne, Morgan Winsor, and Julia Jacobo, “First Hurricane Warnings Issued for South Florida as Irma Approaches,” ABC News, September 8, 2017, available at https://abcnews.go.com/US/hurricane-irma-continues-advance-florida-category-storm/story?id=49673384 (accessed on June 26, 2019); and “About Miami-Dade County,” Miami-Dade County, available at https://www8 miamidade. gov/global/disclaimer/about-miami-dade-county. page. (accessed on June 26, 2019) . 8 “Agriculture and Rural Area Study, Miami-Dade County,” last edited July 12, 2013, available at https://www miamidade. gov/planning/agriculture-rural-. area-study asp. (accessed on June 26, 2019); and Brayan Vazquez, “Native American Tradition Still Thrives In Miami,” The Reporter, November 24, 2015, available at https://www mdcthereporter. com/native-american-tradition-still-thrives-in-miami/. (accessed on June 26, 2019) . 9 “QuickFacts Miami-Dade County Florida,” United States Census Bureau, available at https://www census. gov/quickfacts/fact/table/. miamidadecountyflorida/POP060210 (accessed on June 18, 2019) . 10 Luis Fajardo, “How Miami became the capital of affluent Latin America,” BBC News, May 16, 2016, available at https://www bbc. com/news/world-us-. canada-36281648 (accessed on June 26, 2019); and Franco Ordoñez, “As Caribbean Immigration Rises, Miami’s black population becomes more foreign,” Miami Herald, April 10, 2015, available at https://www miamiherald. com/article18228377. html. (accessed on June 26, 2019) . 11 Johari County, “Report: Nearly 60 Percent of Miami-Dade Households Struggling To Get By,” WSVN, February 8, 2019, available at https://wsvn com/news/. local/report-nearly-60-percent-of-miami-dade-households-struggling-to-get-by/ (accessed on June 26, 2019) . Leadership For A Networked Wold 5 wealth gap in the United States and “a level of economic inequality similar to that of Panama or Colombia ”. 12 One of the underlying issues contributing to this inequality was that the local economy was largely driven by the service industry and tourism, which resulted in a lot of people working in low-wage jobs without traditional benefits (e.g., health insurance) . Miami also had a high cost of living, including exorbitant housing prices; weak