Annual Update on Hunger & Homelessness Released during Miami Cares Day

Photos by Jorge Perez/City of Miami

At this time of significant economic downturn, the issues of hunger and homelessness in America are more prevalent than ever. Cities are the front lines where these effects are first felt, which is why mayors have been proactive and have implemented local initiatives to combat hunger and homelessness in their communities. Miami Cares Day is a coordinated effort that our City has done for the past four years to address these very issues and take care of our most vulnerable residents.
The City of Miami Homeless Assistance Program, in conjunction with more than 20 community partners, provided free services today to more than 700 homeless individuals during the fourth annual Miami Cares Day on December 12. During the event, 513 meals were served and 118 homeless individuals were taken off the street in a single day, through shelter placement, residential treatment and relocation.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) also released results of its 2008 Hunger and Homelessness Report at a press conference during the Miami Cares event.
The USCM report reveals that on average, cities reported a 12 percent increase in homelessness from 2007 to 2008, with 16 cities citing an increase in the number of homeless families. The lack of affordable housing, poverty and unemployment were cited as the primary causes of homelessness for families. For individuals, the top three causes cited were substance abuse, affordable housing and mental illness. The lack of affordable housing, poverty and unemployment were cited as the primary causes of homelessness for families.
Only Los Angeles, Phoenix, Cleveland and Miami saw a decline. Miami saw a 16% decline from last year, and a 66% decline from 2003, the year we adopted our 10 year plan to reduce homelessness.
This year’s survey included a special focus on the demand for government subsidized housing and the effect of the foreclosure crisis on homelessness. Twelve cities (63) percent reported an increase in homelessness because of the foreclosure crisis.
The report shows that requests for emergency food assistance went up in nearly every city surveyed with the demand outpacing the supply in 20 cities. The Miami Indoor Meal Program served 150,000 meals last year.

December 18 update:

Today I received impressive numbers detailing the positive impact we had on Miami's homeless during Miami Cares Day:

250 volunteers were able to provide 743 people with 92 shelter placements, 47 haircuts, 136 showers and new clothes, 18 long distance phone calls to family and friends, 14 family re-unifications, 12 substance abuse treatment placements, 59 people were provided medical services, 40 mental health screenings were administered, 15 veterans affairs consultations were given, 33 legal service consultations were given, 38 permanent housing applications were filled and filed, 49 food stamps applications were filled and filed, 475 gift bags were handed out, 86 HIV/Hepatitis tests were administered, 81 people were provided with optical services, 88 Florida I.D.'s were issued, 21 people people were given manicures/pedicures, and 118 people were provided with some form of housing.

Thank you to all of the volunteers who made this possible!

To read the entire USCM 2008 Hunger and Homelessness Report, please visit www.usmayors.org.

Follow this link to hear my NPR interview about the report and homelessness.

- Manny

A Second Sunday for Biking, Walking, Skating & Exploring the City in a New Way

photo: Jorge Perez, City of Miami

Sunday was another a success for Bike Miami Days. I had a great time riding around Bayfront Park and Downtown Miami, visiting local shops and meeting local families along the way. I had a great time and got to try riding a Trikke and saw lots of interesting bikes and skates, segways and skateboards, too.

I would like to thank City Year volunteers for 'Bringing Books Alive', their program to promote reading for kids at Bayfront Park. The Downtown Miami Partnership and the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts hosted the top entries from the DAWNTOWN International Architectural Ideas Competition. Kirk Jewelers gave out free water to everyone who passed their shop on Flagler Street. Sun Cycling came out to Mary Brickell Village and offered a free bike clinic with helmet fittings and lots of holiday cheer, too. The Everglades Bicycle Club collected toys for children in need across Greater Miami, and the Green Mobility Network was back, valeting bicycles and sharing information about bike safety. Bike Miami Days is truly a community effort, and I could go on and on thanking everyone who make it happen. Last but not least, we could not do this without the support of the City of Miami Police and Parks & Recreation Departments, as well as Public Works, Solid Waste, GSA and Communications.

It was a great day. I look forward to announcing the date of the next Bike Miami Day soon.

- Manny

This Sunday: Bike Miami Days in Downtown Miami

This Sunday, Bike Miami Days returns to Downtown Miami, back by popular demand.

Bike Miami Days is an initiative to promote bicycling and walking, livable streets and our urban community.

This Sunday, from 9:00am-3:00pm, I hope that you and your family will join me and mine to Explore our City in a New Way. East Flagler Street and portions of SE 1st Avenue and South Miami Ave will be closed to cars so that everyone can visit the parks, shops, cafes and restaurants of Downtown Miami by bike, on foot or rollerblades or trikke or...

I encourage you to carpool or take public transportation if you cannot bike or walk to this event. Mary Brickell Village will be offering $3 all-day parking and the MetroMover and Bike Valet, as always, will be free.

I would also like to thank all of you who have shared with me your photos, videos, blogs and thoughts on Bike Miami Days. Many of them are on Facebook, the Bike Miami Days blog and the official site: Bike-Miami.com

I hope everyone who came to the first event will be able to join us again. This Sunday will feature a full service Bike Clinic, the Everglades Bicycle Club Annual Toy Drive, Live music, and the City Year program "Bringing Books Alive", which promotes reading for kids, at Bayfront Park, and much more.

For the full list of events and a map, please visit the blog.

See you Sunday!

-Manny

A Call to Washington to Invest in Our Cities

Investing in MainStreet metropolitan economies, which comprise 90% of our gross domestic product and drive the national economy, is the most direct path to creating jobs and stimulating the business that can begin to reverse the current economic downturn. Yesterday I was joined by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, to renew our call for MainStreet Economic Recovery during a press conference on Capitol Hill, and to release the second report that inventories local ‘ready-to-go’ infrastructure projects – projects that could be started and completed in cities in just two calendar years -- if emergency federal funding were made available. We were also joined by House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (NY).
Information on these projects has been submitted to the U.S. Conference of Mayors from hundreds of cities in all regions of the country and includes projects in ten different sectors including Community Development Block Grants, transit, highway infrastructure, green jobs, school modernization, public safety and public housing (see details at http://www.usmayors.org/).
Immediately following the press conference, we met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in her office and then with Senate Majority Leader Reid and Assistant Senate Majority Leader Durbin to discuss the report and the MainStreet Economic Recovery plan.

Below are my remarks given during the press conference:

Main Street America’s economic crisis continues to worsen.

Since the start of the recession a year ago, our nation has lost nearly 2 million jobs. Over 10 million American workers are now unemployed.

These workers live and work in our cities, they live and work on Main Street.

Mayors also live and work on Main Street.

We see problems first and are the first to respond.

Mayors lead the metro economies, our nation’s economic engines, accounting for 86 percent of jobs, 90 percent of income and gross domestic product.

With a real sense of urgency, we met throughout the Summer to begin drafting our main street economic recovery plan.

Our plan calls for investments that will stimulate our economy by quickly creating jobs, fixing our aging infrastructure, increasing our global competitiveness and further reducing our carbon footprint.

In developing our plan, we asked our 1,200 member cities to provide us with a specific list of their 2009 and 2010 shovel-ready projects, their estimated cost and the number of jobs created.

To date, 427 cities of all sizes have responded. We have over 11,300 infrastructure projects “ready to go.”

They represent an investment of more than 73 billion dollars and will produce an estimated 848,000 jobs in 2009 and 2010.

These are real jobs, and a real return on taxpayer investment.

To reverse the current economic crisis, we must invest wisely. We must invest where we get the greatest return: in “Main Street.”

We are not here for a bailout. We are here to help build-out America, and put America back to work, and to strongly endorse President Elect Obama’s call for a long-term economic recovery plan that creates or saves 2.5 million jobs over the next two years, and that invests in a sustainable, energy-saving infrastructure.

We are prepared to work with President Elect Obama and our congressional leaders to measure our progress, to spend the dollars timely or lose them, and to account for the number of jobs created and the energy saved.

The conference will continue to collect information from our members and issue our next update during the first week of January.

- Manny

Mayor’s Blog One of Miami’s Top Blogs!

I am happy to announce that this blog was ranked among Miami's top “up and coming” blogs by Outside.in, a hyperlocal news and information service, which provides news and information on a level beyond what traditional media provides.
Outside.in recently analyzed data from over 4,000 blogs that provide feeds to the Outside.in site, and based on variables that include total number of posts, location of posts, and links from other sites in the community, identified the Mayor's Blog as a top blog in the Miami area.
Read more at http://blog.outside.in/2008/12/03/dept-of-blogiology-101-miami

Thank you to my readers!

- Manny

Join Me for the Overtown Folk Life Festival

This weekend marks the first of what will be a monthly tradition for Miami's Overtown Neighborhood, First Fridays, with the Overtown Folk Life Festival. Come visit the Historic Overtown community this weekend with your family and enjoy live music, arts & crafts, and a visit from Santa!

Support Adopt-A-Classroom

Outside the home, the teacher is the single greatest influence on the life of a child. They do more than just teach, they are caregivers, guardians, mentors, and role models. In order to succeed at their increasingly demanding job, teachers need more resources and support. According to the National Education Association, public school teachers spend an average $1,200 annually purchasing materials for their classrooms. Without these resources, teachers are unable to do the job they are being asked to perform so it should be no surprise that 50% of teachers leave the profession within the first five years. As the Mayor of the City of Miami, I believe the time has come for all citizens to begin taking a vested interest in the future of the children of our City.

I have partnered with Adopt-A-Classroom and Miami-Dade County Public Schools to work toward its mission of matching every teacher in Miami with a community partner. Through Adopt-A-Classroom, anyone can partner with and make a donation of any size to any classroom in Miami. 100% of the donation goes directly to the teacher so the teacher can purchase the resources necessary to meet student needs. Donors receive personal feedback from the teacher and students. In addition, Adopt-A-Classroom sends donors Impact Reports that details exactly what teacher purchased with the donation, providing full accountability and transparency in the process.

The teacher would have the resources necessary to maximize student achievement, and the students would have the knowledge that others in the community care about their success and are rooting for them. We want to expand this initiative for the 2008-2009 school year to adopt all classrooms within the City of Miami. We are calling on you to become a part of this plan. A contribution of as little as $500.00 could make an enormous difference. Please consider this as an opportunity to contribute to the City’s future. You can make a donation directly to a school and teacher of your choice by going to Adopt-A-Classroom’s website – http://www.adoptaclassroom.org/ or for information, please contact Vivianne Bohorques, from my office, at 305-250-5317.

- Manny