The Parks Foundation of Miami-Dade

Last few days to register for The Inaugural Community Champions Awards celebrating newly elected and current County Commissioners in Miami-Dade. This is a great opportunity to network and to hear about the great work that is being done in Miami-Dade!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/537780835957

There's still time to help us hit our target! Give Miami Day is still going until midnight. givemiamiday.org/parksfoundation

Today is Give Miami Day! Thank you for your support of Parks Foundation of Miami-Dade https://www.givemiamiday.org/ParksFoundation

Give Miami Day is Thursday! Mark your calendars and support Parks Foundation of Miami-Dade https://givemiamiday.com/parksfoundation

Continuing our Board Member introductions, meet our immediate past president John Quick. John is a commercial litigator and municipal attorney with the law firm of Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman. He also serves as the Independent Counsel to the Miami Civilian Investigative Panel. John is also active in numerous local professional organizations and civic affairs. In addition to the Parks Foundation, he has served on the board of the Friends of the Miami-Dade Public Library (from 2012-2014 as the President) and since 2014 has brought together community leaders to form the Coalition to Save Our Libraries which ultimately resulted in an increase of the initial proposed annual library budget from $30 million to $54.4 million and now to over $64 million. John also serves as the Immediate Past President for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Historical Society and serves as the First Vice President of the County’s Community Relations Board. John previously served on the board of HistoryMiami, five years of which were on the Executive Committee. John has also served as an appointee to the Miami-Dade County Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force for the Miami-Dade Public Library System, as well as the Village of Palmetto Bay Charter Review Committee.

Today’s Board Member Spotlight is Loren Parra. Loren is the Senior Director of Communications for the Office of the Mayor, Miami-Dade County.

She previously served as the Director of Public Affairs at The Miami Foundation. In her role she lead the Foundation’s Civic Leadership Agenda, focused on addressing critical quality of life issues in Miami-Dade County through convening, policy, and grantmaking.

Loren also worked at The Everglades Foundation as the Director of the George Barley Water Prize and as the Regional Director to former U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, managing local outreach efforts and acting as a liaison to federal resources for Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties.

Loren was a 2022 In the Company of Women Honoree.

It was great to hear from Hydi Webb at Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce 's Energy Resilience Spark 2.0 today.

Another new face to the Parks Foundation is Danlys Hernandez. Danlys is Executive Director of Enterprise Construction at CVS Health. She is responsible for ensuring that the built environment of all Enterprise and Corporate facilities represents the vision of our various Corporate Business Partners through dynamic planning, branding, design, and construction.

Her primary focus is on ensuring successful ex*****on of construction throughout the Enterprise for a broad range of projects.

Danlys has over 20 years of professional experience spanning across design, management, real estate development and construction throughout the Northeast and the Southeast. She is actively involved in Women in Healthcare Organization and CREW. She leads different mentoring groups and advocates for Women in Construction development within her organization and several volunteer efforts.

Today's The Parks Foundation of Miami-Dade board member spotlight is Jose Felix Diaz .

As an attorney, advisor, and four-term elected official, Jose Felix has consistently been recognized as one of the rising stars in government affairs over the past decade. In 2010, Jose was elected to the Florida House of Representatives, where he served for seven years. Known for his fundraising prowess and sharp political instincts, Jose was recruited to serve on the Republican State Leadership Committee’s Future Majority Project Board, to help recruit and retain minority candidates throughout the United States.

During his legislative tenure, Jose was recognized by the American Conservative Union as one of the top ten young leaders in the United States and elected as chair of the Miami-Dade Legislative Delegation, where he led his colleagues during a period of sustained and successful bipartisanship. A Columbia Law School graduate, Jose has significant international, federal, state, and local government affairs experience and legal acumen. Early in his law career, Jose gained a reputation for being a tenacious advocate for clients in contract procurement, public private partnerships, complex legal, and land use and zoning matters.

Jose was recently named one of the top influential people in Florida politics by Influence Magazine in their Fall 2022 issue. He also serves as a board member for the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA).

Great to hear from Andrew Parker, Founder of Papa, at the Miami Dade College Idea Center