The City of North Miami Beach has taken a very proactive and aggressive approach to seek and identify grant funding resources to achieve the goals and objectives of the Strategic Plan as well as accomplish the Mission of providing excellent municipal services in a financially responsible environmentally conscious manner, while engaging our residents. As part of that effort, the City applied for and has been awarded another record amount of funding from The Children's Trust in an approximate amount of Three Million Dollars ($3M) or 580,000 in 2023, with four (4) one-year renewals.
The City of North Miami Beach submitted one (1) grant application to The Children’s Trust in response to Request for Proposal #2023-01 for Youth Development K-12. After a lengthy application process, on February 24, 2023, the City received notification that our application was being recommended for funding. The funding recommendations were presented to The Children's Trust full Board of Directors on Monday, April 17, 2023, and the merits of our solid application and plan of execution were rewarded and approved. These funds will be used to augment, enhance, and implement other aspects of the existing Parks & Recreation/NMB Library programming, as well as incorporate The Children's Trust guidelines.
Program Overview: This particular investment into the City of North Miami Beach will benefit one hundred seventy-five (175) youth and provide access to robotics classes, literacy instruction taught by certified Miami-Dade County Public Schools teachers, as well as fitness and sports activities within the Parks and Recreation after-school and summer programs located in the Uleta and Highland Village communities. This particular investment will also deliver unique STREAM programming (Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Art, Math) to underserved students in the North Dade feeder pattern. The excitement of robotics, coding, arts, coupled with academic support and physical activities, will provide and/or enhance career or vocational opportunities to middle and high school students attending the after-school only program at our NMB Discovery Library.
Because of the pending closure of the Washington Park Community Center, the 45 participants normally slotted at this facility have been redistributed between Highland Village and Uleta Park. When the new Washington Park Community Center opens, the City’s plan, in conjunction with The Children's Trust, is to restructure the participant allocation back to Washington Park through an amendment.
Additional enrichment activities include social emotional learning, academic support, test preparation, cultural arts, field trips for summer programs, and family engagement events.
The Children's Trust is a dedicated source of revenue derived from property taxes and established by voter referendum in 2002. Their mission is to partner with the community to plan, advocate for, and fund strategic investments that improve the lives of all children and families in Miami-Dade County. Their vision is for a community that works together to provide the essential foundations to enable every child to achieve their full potential.