Community Partnerships
City of Miami Beach and FIU

FIU and the City of Miami Beach have forged a dynamic partnership leveraging geography, history, demographics, and intellectual capital to address both of FIU and Miami Beach's most pressing challenges. Since 2014, the robust partnership has flourished and the Office of Engagement now manages five workgroups focused on education, transportation, history and culture, coastal resilience and adaptation, and messaging.
City of Boynton Beach and FIU

In July 2020, the City of Boynton Beach and the FIU Office of Engagement forged a dynamic partnership to create a new Task Force within the City, aimed at tackling racial and social inequity within the City of Boynton Beach.
Through the Task Force, the Office of Engagement will work alongside the City to create a new and innovative framework to address racial and social inequity in the delivery of City services for the benefit of all communities.
434+ students
from City of Miami Beach elementary and middle schools enrolled in the free FIU + CMB After-School Enrichment Program.
$3 million
granted by JP Morgan Chase Advancing Cities Challenge, launching the Miami Prosperity Building initiative
3-5 students
from FIU consistently enrolled in the highly competitive College Student Pre-commissioning Initiative program

FIU Engagement is a founding member of the JP Morgan Chase Advancing Cities Challenge led by The Miami Foundation. Miami's application, supported by FIU, the City of Miami, and the City of Miami Beach, beat over 250 cities to receive a $3 million grant to launch a local prosperity initiative: the Miami Prosperity Building Initiative.
As a member of the steering committee, the Office of Engagement helps advise on funding work focused specifically on training local residents and businesses to be more resilient to chronic financial stresses.

The South Florida Anchor Alliance is a coalition of local anchors working in partnership with the Health Foundation of South Florida. The mission of the Alliance is to maximize the economic power of place-based institutions, such as hospitals and universities, to build a thriving and prosperous South Florida.
FIU's Office of Engagement was a founding anchor, and StartUp FIU Procurement, the Division of Human Resources, and Procurement Services all have member representatives at this time. The coalition is comprised of 30 anchors in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties with the goal of building alignment in workforce and procurement policies to better support local small businesses and the local workforce.

Lack of opportunities and access to living wages continue to negatively impact Miami-Dade's most vulnerable communities. In December 2019, Miami-Dade's unemployment rate was at a low three percent, however, 40 percent of local families had household incomes lower than the cost of living. But, as COVID-19 unprecedently hit and rocked the nation, Miami-Dade families became vulnerable to job losses, and Miami-Dade's unemployment rate skyrocketed to 12 percent.
The Miami Jobs & Opportunity Report will serve as a resource to local decision-makers in building a sustainable and equitable future, where access to opportunities and jobs are more accessible for our communities. FIU's role is to build a local advisory committee, built of public and private sector leaders and workforce individuals directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and structural racism, that will help our local politicians and leaders make the best decisions for a brighter Miami future.

Florida International University has partnered with the Ford Foundation and New America to launch a program focused on training interdisciplinary groups of undergraduate and graduate students in Public Interest Technology (PIT). The new program aims to train a new generation of students that are part of the PIT University Network.
FIU students complete coursework developed and delivered by FIU's Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy and earn a credential badge. The coursework includes 1) introduction to public interest technology; 2) understanding civic service design; 3) using artificial intelligence (AI) for the Provision of Services. After completing their in-class instruction, students participate in a 100-hour practical exercise via an internship/fellowship with a partnering organization that serves the public.
Learn more about our partnership with Public Interest Technology here.

College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative (CSPI)
FIU has partnered with the United States Coast Guard (USCG) to implement the competitive CSPI program, providing high achieving students with demonstrated leadership skills the opportunity to build a career with the USCG while attending school. The scholarship includes tuition, books and fees, a housing allowance and medical benefits, a full-time Coast Guard salary of up to $3,600 a month and a guaranteed job post-graduation.