Do you know anything about Daniella Levine Cava? I do. By Geniusofdespair I talked to a friend in Homestead yesterday and she said her friends knew nothing about Daniella Levine Cava so how could they support her for her candidacy in District 8? My friend said: She had to come meet them. Like they all knew about Lynda Bell when they voted for her? Come on, gimme a break! To humor my friend, I decided to write a bit about Daniellas background from my journey with her over the years. Daniella Levine founded the Human Services Coalition of Dade County (HSC) in 1996. It is now renamed Catalyst Miami and it is still running but without Daniellas leadership. It has a staff of about 30 people (I was at the office a few times and saw them all buzzing about but I forget why I was there). Her non-profit filled a niche, it was created to meet the needs of families and communities. Her goal, as I saw it, was to make life easier for people, like trying to move low income people to the middle class by working with diverse groups such as the Chamber of Commerce (ick), and other such groups. Not an easy task. According to Huffington Post on her self-created non-profit: In 16 years the organizational has evolved to serve as a hub for innovation in health and human services and an incubator for new approaches to community and economic development. The nonprofits major initiatives include the Prosperity Campaign and Imagine Miami which have received national recognition from groups including the U.S. Treasury, Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Ford Foundation. New programs include the Nonprofit Leadership and Training Institute and ReServe. The organization employs 30 with a budget over $2.5 million from a mix of public and private sources. In other words Daniella was working out of the box trying to make the County a better place for its citizens. She worked on child abuse, with immigrants, created new jobs, etc. She is a consensus builder. She even worked with the likes of Natacha Seijas on Social issues, that is someone Katy Sorenson could never work with. I told you all previously that I knew Daniella for years before she initiated this run for District 8. My take on her was that she was a kind and gentle woman, easy to laugh, but a take-charge leader. I was impressed with her speaking ability and the success of her programs. I went to one of her workshops at Miami College. About 150 citizens were there. She led the meeting. I was hardly a blip on her radar screen at that time because she moved so fast and furious towards her goals and I was doing my thing...dont even remember what that was. I was at her house once. She was holding a meeting about who remembers what, keeping her big dog at bay and getting her family situated with about a dozen people in her living room. She was a multi-tasker. What I think is, she is a born leader. Her programs helped everyone in the county but because her office was on the East Side of the City of Miami, most people did not get to know her work in District 8 but the results of it were there. She didnt advertise, she just got things done. She worked with the clergy, I remember that. She had a meeting with pastors and priests from all these denominations that I was at. She tried to get different groups to operate as one, to get things done. I remember Professor Gregory Bush, a historian at the University of Miami, saying to me at yet another meeting when I first saw her, That is Daniella Levine Cava, she is very powerful. Then I heard her speak and I knew why. She was brilliant. She was articulate and she offered solutions to whatever problem we were discussing. Arent you sorry my memory is not better? Ask me who is on a Campaign Finance report and I can tell you, but this kind of stuff I forget because I am an activist on so many issues -- always putting out fires -- I never remember what issue I am working on. But Daniella and I were often putting out the same fires, that is why we always ended up in the same room. I know Daniellas character, and it is squeaky clean and devoted to doing good. Sort of like mine except I am not squeaky clean and although devoted to doing good by writing this blog for 7 years and being an activist since 1995 (I can be nasty and a pain in the ass and that is not Daniella by a long shot). I just know that Daniella wont be beholden to any special interests, she will be beholden to us, the people. Her only mistake, is not knowing me better. But, that might have made her more cynical and who needs that...just you readers. I asked Daniella how she remembered me over the years. She said she thought of me as an environmental activist, knowledgeable and passionate about my issues. She said she was not acquainted with our blog until the last year or two and hadnt realized how political I was. Here is her official bio (read more). So friend from Homestead, damn it, read the bio and stop asking me what I cant articulate but I feel in my heart. Daniella cant speak to and meet every person in the district, you have to help her do that because you have met her and you liked her. Spread the word.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 11:10:51 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015