Miami, FL – Be Strong International was honored with a proclamation from the Village of Palmetto Bay on Tuesday after providing school supplies and other household items to needy families during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused a loss of job and income nationwide.

Mayor of Village of Palmetto Bay, Karyn Cunningham, presented Be Strong with an official proclamation on September 14, 2020, for its school supply and food drive-thru distribution last month.  With help from local and state government officials, the Children’s Trust, and the Miami Dolphins, Be Strong staff personally packed and provided food boxes alongside supply-filled bookbags to more than 200 families on August 14th.

The “Be Strong Day Back-to-School Drive-Thru Distribution” was the first school supply distribution in the Palmetto Bay area, as well as for the 25-year-old organization itself. Traditionally BSI hosts “Be Strong Day”  as an annual outdoor recreational event, but this year, the pandemic shifted those plans and local families’ lives, especially as students were heading back to school.

“Given the circumstances,” said BSI Executive Director Michelle Shirley, “Be Strong Day became an opportunity to support the community in a most necessary way: helping youth and parents directly.”

The proclamation ceremony, which began at 6:30, was hosted virtually and included citizens of Palmetto Bay along with council members. Mayor Cunningham has expressed her commitment to supporting such efforts. She said, “We are pleased to be part of this back-to-school event and will continue to support Be Strong in helping families in every way we can during this time.”

Be Strong will host its next community distribution on Friday, November 20th, from 10 a.m. to noon, at which time they will be giving out food boxes for Thanksgiving. Details will be announced on the organization’s website www.bestrongintl.org and social media as the date approaches.

Miami, FL – Randa Porter, whose son Kai Jones attends Richmond Middle School, was among the line of parents who attended the Be Strong Day Back-to-School Drive-Thru Distribution event on Friday, picking up donated school supplies for the upcoming school year.

“I just would like to thank Be Strong International and the Village of Palmetto Bay for this event,” Porter told volunteers. “Although it's the pandemic, it's a positive thing, and it really helps out the kids before they go back to school. Thank you!"

Be Strong International (BSI), joined by the City of Palmetto Bay, distributed school supplies and food at the Palmetto Bay Village Hall to needy families on Friday, August 21, 2020. By the end of the event, all 250 bookbags filled with supplies were successfully given to families, along with over 200 food boxes.

Veronica Brown, another parent, also shared how much she appreciated the assistance with supplies for her children. "Listen, this is a great thing that you guys are doing. This is amazing!" she said.

Aiding in the distribution were several community leaders: Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava; President of The Children’s Trust James R. Haj; State Representative Vance Aloupis; Mayor Karyn Cunningham; members of the Rotary Club of Perrine-Cutler Ridge/Palmetto Bay; Andrea Tovar; the Miami Dolphins; and BSI board member Franccesca Cesti-Browne. They all greeted families and packed their cars with supplies in the 91-degree weather.

“We are proud to have you as a part of our village family. Thank you for all you do,” said Mayor Karyn Cunningham of the Village of Palmetto Bay.

Although Be Strong Day is traditionally a yearly outdoor recreational event for youth, this year due to COVID-19 pandemic, it took shape in the form of a school supply drive-thru distribution event. Parents from Palmetto Bay and surrounding areas were able to register on Eventbrite to secure bookbags for their children. The bookbags contained supplies including notebooks, stationery, paper, binders, and face masks.

After receiving the bookbags in their vehicle’s trunk, parents would then drive forward to the food distribution station, where community leaders and BSI staff deposited the food boxes alongside the bookbags. Families who were not able to receive a bookbag, received a $10 gift card per child to use for school supplies. Not one book bag or food box remained by the end of the event.

All supplies and food distributed were donated by Be Strong Day co-sponsors: TD Bank, American Black, PepsiCo, The Children's Trust, VOSS, the Rotary Club of Perrine-Cutler Ridge/Palmetto Bay, Miami Children's Health Plan, Fairlife, Five Below, Palmetto Bay Dentistry, American Black, South Motors, and Miami Dolphins Football Unites.

Be Strong will host its next community distribution on November 20th, at which time they will be giving out food to be eaten for Thanksgiving. The location is still tentative, but all the details will be posted on the organization’s website www.bestrongintl.org as the date approaches.



About Be Strong International
Be Strong International is a leading non-profit that educates young people and parents through positive practices. For more than a quarter-century, they have provided teens and young adults in South Florida with tools to make better decisions about relationships, money, work, and family life.​ The organization uses an evidence-based curriculum to teach adolescents and parents about strategies for building healthy relationships. Be Strong International was nominated for best practices in addressing risky behaviors, and they deliver educational programming to students and parents online, and in-person throughout Miami-Dade and Broward County.

Miami, FL – Be Strong International (“BSI,”) received a charitable contribution of $10,000 from partner CenterState Bank to help further the nonprofit's mission on Friday, July 17th, 2020.

Lisa Greer, FVP of CenterState Bank, and also serves on BSI’s Board of Directors as Vice President, was among the group of CenterState Bank representatives, consisting also of David Pruna, Community President, Miami Dade/Monroe Counties, Willie Carpenter, Senior VP Market Manager, and Charles Keys, VP Community Reinvestment, who delivered the donation to BSI. “We are honored to partner with Be Strong International and support the company’s efforts in the community,” said Charles W. Keys after presenting the check for $10,000 to BSI’s Executive Director, Michelle Shirley.

BSI recently received a donation of 250 PPE masks from CenterState Bank for distribution at one of BSI’s food drives taking place at Cutler Manor Apartments, a residential area for which BSI also provides their after-school program, the Be Strong Club. “Support from our partners such as CenterState Bank is vital during these times when we are making changes to meet the needs of our community; one of the changes is making our programs available online due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Michelle Shirley, Executive Director of BSI. “CenterState Bank’s contribution of $10,000 helps us expand and continue our programming during these times. We are beyond grateful!”

​Be Strong International has partnered with over 19 schools and served more than 6,400 youth in 2019 alone. Their parent program functions fully online until further notice, and they are working to provide online programming for youth in the coming school year. CenterState Bank’s donation will help Be Strong International serve youth and parents throughout Miami-Dade and Broward County during the pandemic and after.

About Be Strong International
Be Strong International is a leading non-profit that educates young people and parents through positive practices. For more than a quarter-century, they have provided teens and young adults in South Florida with tools to make better decisions about relationships, money, work, and family life.​ The organization uses an evidence-based curriculum to teach adolescents and parents about strategies for building healthy relationships. Be Strong International was nominated for best practices in addressing risky behaviors, and they deliver educational programming to students and parents online, and in-person throughout Miami-Dade and Broward County.

About CenterState Bank
CenterState Bank Corporation operates as one of the largest community bank franchises headquartered in the state of Florida. The Company and its nationally chartered bank subsidiary, CenterState Bank, N.A., are based in Winter Haven, Florida, between Orlando and Tampa. Its mission is “regional in scope but laser-focused on the communities we serve to guide your financial journey so you can achieve your dreams. We look to earn your trust, each day and with every transaction.”

Palmetto Bay, FL - April 7, 2020 - The Ocean Reef Community Foundation has provided Be Strong International a grant of $10,000 to support their Universal “Triple P” Parenting workshops for Homestead and Florida city families. The OCRF accumulated more than $1.4 million during their 2020 All Charities effort, which is partly designed to fund their Community Grants Program, and last week they announced the recipients of their grants.
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Be Strong International received the grant to grow its Universal Parenting Program in Homestead and Florida City. The aim of this program is to provide workshops to all parents of children up to the age of 16. These 90-minute workshops are designed to help parents and caregivers raise confident, competent, responsible, and resilient children. All BSI facilitators teaching the workshops are certified by the Triple P (Positive Parenting Program), a world-renowned parenting program developed by the University of Queensland, to teach their curriculum. BSI will use a portion of the grant to provide parents with meals, incentives, and childcare during their workshops. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Be Strong International is hosting parent workshops via Zoom. For information on the dates and times of these workshops, please visit the events page on their website. 

Thanks to its annual grant program, Ocean Reef Community Foundation enables many non-profits to develop their programs further. With this added support, Be Strong International, utilizing its excellent parenting program and staff, will provide parents in Homestead and Florida City essential skills that will foster a greater parent-child relationship.
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About Be Strong International
Be Strong International is a non-profit organization, begun in 1992, that focuses on educating young people and parents through positive practices. The organization uses evidence-based curricula that provides teens and families in South Florida with tools to make better decisions about relationships, money, work, and family life. Be Strong International was nominated for best practices in addressing risky behaviors, and they deliver educational programming to students and parents within Miami-Dade and Broward County.

Palmetto Bay, FL - November 22, 2019 - On November 14th, 2019, the Broward Sheriff’s Office distributed money from the Law Enforcement Trust Funds (LETF) to local nonprofits. Be Strong International, a recipient of this award, plans to utilize the funds to grow its healthy relationship workshops in Broward County Public Schools, aiming to educate more than 200 kids in grades 6 through 12.  In response to the presence of juvenile crimes in Broward county, Be Strong International set objectives that align with those of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office to cultivate the communities within Broward by addressing the various issues education can remedy. What contributes to the success of both organizations in addressing community-wide issues is the compassion they instill into their daily work. The compassion from which true words and actions arise as they did on November 14th, when the Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony gave these words: “we’re stronger together.” 

 “These non-profit community organizations have different missions,” Sheriff Gregory Tony began, “but the core of what they do remains the same – to provide vital services and improve the lives of people across Broward County.” 

In this astute statement, the sheriff underwrites the core value of the LETF which is to repurpose money that comes from the seizure and forfeiture of contraband for the mitigation of juvenile crime, primarily drug trafficking and abuse. LETF recipients are commonly organization that provide programs, mentorship, and assistance to youth within Broward county. Be Strong International is one of these agents of change, and on November 14th, its CEO, Michelle Shirley, received a $9,975 award from the Broward Sheriff’s Office on behalf of the organization from Sheriff Gregory Tony.  

Shirley, leading the organization since 2012, detailed the plans for the funds, exuberantly relating the impact she anticipates the organization will be able to have in Broward thanks to this award. She summarizes, “Be Strong International will offer healthy relationship workshops in Broward County Public Schools to 200 youth in grades 6th through 12th grade.” Further on, she adds, “four of our professionally trained Be Strong facilitators will use evidence-based curricula and strategies to teach healthy relationship skills and social-emotional learning: lessons will include effective communication skills, decision-making skills, healthy relationship skills, character development skills and much more.”

Be Strong International took a moment to recount the generosity demonstrated by the Broward Sheriff’s Office on Facebook. Shirley’s post exalts the honor and privilege of receiving the award, knowing well that the award is not only a gift but also a promise between Sheriff Gregory Tony, the other nonprofit recipients, and Be Strong International to better the communities they serve. Because as our community grows, it is imperative to remember that, as Sheriff Gregory Tony stated, “we’re stronger together.”

Residents of Cutler Manor were treated to a day of activities for Be Strong Day.

Children got a chance to win prizes, get their faces painted, and learn about safety from Miami-Dade County Police and the Miami-Dade County Fire Department. 

“Serving the community is our No. 1 priority,” says Be Strong International Executive Director Michelle Shirley.   

Be Strong International is a year round non-profit organization that focuses on educating young people through positive youth development practices. In its 27th year, the organization uses an evidence-based curriculum to teach adolescents about healthy relationships, financial literacy, and educational and career success. Be Strong serves more than 3,400 students within Miami-Dade and Broward County public schools each year.

Be Strong partnered with Nike and Nicholas Children’s Hospital for games and give-a-ways, Texas Roadhouse Restaurant for food and Voss Water for drinks. Other partners included The Children’s Trust, Guardian Ad Litem, Help Me Grow Florida, Play Station, Simply Healthcare, Miami Children’s Health Plan, JSC, and Poah Communities.  

Shirley went on to say, “We will continue to pour out our love and offer our best resources to the residents of Cutler Manor and the surrounding community. We are delighted to have worked in partnership with other partners to help make this event a huge success. After all, it’s about thriving families and stronger communities!”

Be Strong has served over 200,000 youth and parents. It offers sexual risk avoidance workshops to youth and “Ready to Talk” workshops to parents that encourages them to talk early and often to their adolescents about delaying sexual activity.
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Be Strong International is committed to helping to equip parents with tactical skills. Across Miami-Dade County throughout the month of August parents can locate a workshop to attend to learn practical skills to help in rearing their children. For more information, visit www.bestrongintl.org/events.html

A school yearbook is important. Yearbooks are cherished. They are tradition.

Excitement builds throughout the school year especially before the big reveal. And then, when books are in hand, students quickly search for their photos and those of their friends. They celebrate.

At Richmond Heights Middle School, students have not experienced this for seven years.

But this year, the yearbook is back with support of the Motivate Miami Team from Leadership Miami, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce and The Children’s Trust-funded Be Strong International program.

It all started with a conversation between the school’s Be Strong Youth Enrichment Director Celida Hernandez and Principal Larhonda Donaldson.

“Ms. Donaldson told us that the kids had done a survey and that many of the students were interested in taking photography lessons,” Hernandez said. “She told us that the school had not had a yearbook in the past seven years. So it all started on that day. We had a dream!”

Be Strong was invited to share their club members’ dream with several Leadership Miami teams, all of whom were looking for a project, Hernandez said.

“Motivate Miami selected Be Strong, adopting the Be Strong club members’ dream to give all the RHM students a yearbook. The Motivate Miami team members fund-raised throughout the year, paid for printing costs and helped the kids learn and operate the software,” Hernandez said.

“The school was able to hire a professional photography teacher and lend many hands to help the Be Strong club RHM members produce their own yearbook. And with the help of our outside sponsors, Be Strong purchased high quality cameras and computers.”

Beginning in August 2018, club members learned about photography and took photos. For the second semester, between January and April, the students learned what it means to produce a yearbook.

They received guidance from their photography teacher, Sasha Jordan, who worked with club members many hours over many weeks and the Motivate Miami team.

“Our students were the ones who put it together, selecting and editing from thousands of pictures, those that made it to the final proof,” Hernandez said. The mission also involved copy editing and meeting production deadlines. 

At a special ceremony May 3, the 2018-19 Be Strong club presented the yearbook to all the students at Richmond Heights Middle.

​Miami-Dade Public School Board Member Lawrence Feldman, members of MDCPS District 7, and Bevone Ritchie, The Children’s Trust senior program manager, were in attendance.

“It’s been an amazing experience for everyone,” Hernandez said. “It was a dream come true!”

​MIAMI, FL – March 29, 2019 – Miami-Dade County Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava honored Be Strong International with a proclamation recognizing March 23, 2019 as "Have a Heart Day."

Commissioner Cava issued the proclamation as a symbol and reminder of all the good that youth organizations, like Be Strong International, Inc., do by providing guidance and mentorship to underprivileged communities. The proclamation recognizes the lasting impact that youth programs like Be Strong International have on young people and their communities.

“Teaching heart skills to young people fundamentally changes how they think about themselves and their future,” said Michelle Shirley, Executive Director of Be Strong International. “We consider ourselves very lucky to enlighten youth and families on how to develop and sustain healthy relationships, and I am so honored to be a part of this special day!” Shirley said.

Be Strong International is a non-profit organization that focuses on educating young people through positive youth development practices. In its 25th year, the organization uses an evidence- based curriculum to teach adolescents about healthy relationships, financial literacy, and educational and career success. We were nominated for best practices in addressing risky behaviors, and we deliver educational programming to more than 1,500 students within Miami-Dade and Broward County Public Schools each year.
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​TD Bank celebrated the grand opening of a new location at 14395 S. Dixie Hwy. in Palmetto Bay on Saturday, Oct. 20.

Participating in the grand opening were several members of TD Bank’s upper management as well as Palmetto Bay officials, including Mayor Eugene Flinn and Council-member Karyn Cunningham, both candidates for village mayor.

One of the activities during the event was hosted by Citizens for a Better South Florida, which taught the children and their parents in attendance how to properly plant and water seeds to grow their own food.

Just before the grand opening, everyone was invited inside to witness the ribbon cutting for the bank with TD Bank officials, accompanied by the Girl Scouts of Palmetto Bay, and Mayor Flinn.

In addition to the ceremonial ribbon cutting, a check for $10,000 was presented to Be Strong International on behalf of the TD Charitable Foundation, the charitable giving arm of TD Bank.

The donation was apart of the foundation’s commitment to giving back to the community.

Be Strong International is a non-profit that helps young people create healthy relationships by educating them using positive youth development practices and social emotional learning. The funds from the TD Charitable Foundation will fund the Be Strong Club Program, providing educational services and resources to children, young adults and families about healthy relationships, career success and financial literacy.