U.S. Rep. Kendrick B. Meek Secures Over $35 Million in Federal Appropriations

Funding Will Go Towards High Priority Projects in Areas such as Education, Law Enforcement, and Health Care

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Kendrick B. Meek today announced that he has secured a total of $35.1 million in federal appropriations funding for South Florida. The approved dollars were included in a series of fiscal year 2010 House Appropriations bills and will benefit high priority projects in areas such as education, law enforcement, infrastructure, health care, homeland security, and economic development. As a member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Meek continually places in the upper echelon of lawmakers securing federal funds for their home districts and state.

"This is great news for South Florida," said Meek. "Washington can play a critical role in giving local entities the boost they need to expand operations and increase services. I will continue to fight for federal funding that creates jobs and spurs economic growth in South Florida."

A list of approved projects benefiting South Florida and the state that Congressman Meek helped secure appears below:

Commerce, Justice and Science

Arise Foundation

Arise Life Management Skills Intervention/Re-entry Program for High Risk Youth

824 US Hwy 1, Suite 240, North Palm Beach, FL 33408

$550,000

The Arise Intervention Re-entry Program provides Florida Juvenile Justice staff on a statewide basis with in-depth training to conduct guided group discussions with incarcerated high-risk youth. The program helps to stop the cycle of crime and gang violence.

Miami Dade College North Campus

Officer Tactical Facility Enhancements

11380 NW 27th Ave., Miami, FL 33167

$200,000

This all-inclusive, one-stop Officer Tactical Training Facility would provide a seamless approach for local and state law enforcement professionals to receive academic as well as tactical training to enhance the performance of their duties and responsibilities in an ever-changing, demanding environment. The facility will be used by State, County, and Federal police and corrections agencies, as well as military agencies in South Florida. Currently over 1,000 officers from 30+ municipal and school system Police Departments and 2 Corrections Systems (FL State and Miami Dade County) train at Miami Dade College’s North Campus.

Miami Dade County Police Department

Mortgage Fraud Task Force

9105 NW 25th Street, Doral, FL 33172

$150,000

The funding for this project would be used for the creation of a Mortgage Fraud Task Force National Model to train law enforcement individuals in those identified communities which represent the ten (10) highest concentrated areas affected by mortgage fraud. The anticipated benefits include a more effective process of dealing with and prosecuting mortgage fraud in Miami-Dade County and nationwide, and eventually, a decrease in the occurrence of mortgage fraud.

 Overtown Youth Center, Inc

450 NW 14th St., Miami FL 33136

$100,000

The Overtown Youth Center provides services to youth who currently attend public schools in Overtown, and their families. All attend schools that received a D or an F from the Florida Department of Education with significantly lower than average test scores and higher than average rates of student absence. Goals of the Overtown Youth Center include increased attendance, no expulsions, participation in extra curricular activities, increased GPA of students, and increased parent participation. This will help ensure students in low and under-performing schools are given every opportunity to become productive and educated members of the community.

Thurgood Marshall College Fund

The Minority Science Initiative

80 Maiden Lane Suite 2204, New York, NY 10038

$100,000

This funding will be used to assist NASA in its efforts to recruit minority students who will pursue careers in the sciences.

 Miami-Dade County Public Schools

Technological Equipment Upgrade for Miami-Dade Schools Police Department

1450 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami, FL 33123

$600,000

Funding will be used to upgrade technological equipment for Miami-Dade Schools Police Department. Providing for a technological upgrade to the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department will help to ensure the safety of children enrolled in the school system and enable the Department to work efficiently and effectively.

Hollywood Police Department

Hollywood Law Enforcement Technology

3250 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, FL 33021

$400,000

Funding will go to upgrade law enforcement technologies to improve communication, surveillance, intelligence gathering and enforcement.

 

Energy and Water

Florida A & M University

Fusion Energy Spheromak Turbulent Plasma Experiment

1601 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Tallahassee, FL 32307

$500,000

Funding will be used to research, build and experiment with a spheromak-type reactor. By accelerating scientific progress towards fusion power, the project seeks to develop and diversify clean energy sources. In addition, the project involves students from groups traditionally underrepresented in the nation's scientific workforce, and thus would help diversify the scientific field as well.

 Florida Inland Navigation District

Intracoastal Waterway

1314 Marcinski Rd., Jupiter, FL 33477

$4,500,000

Funds would be used to dredge the Intracoastal Waterway (IWW )in two locations, the Mantanzas Inlet and in the vicinity of St. Augustine. This will restore these sections of the IWW for safe navigability for commercial and recreational vessels.

 

Transportation, Housing and Urban Development

Broward County

Park and Ride Lots

115 S. Andrews Avenue, Room 409, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

$500,000

This funding will be used to develop easily accessible park and ride lots and encourage the use of public transportation.

 Miami-Dade County

Metrorail Orange Line Expansion

111 NW 1st Street, Suite 1032, Miami, FL 33128

$4,000,000

This expansion will allow for more options for commuting and travel around Miami-Dade County, taking vehicles off the road, and increasing environmentally-friendly public transit.

 Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida

Miccosukee Community Water System Improvements

Mile Marker 70, Miami, FL 33134

$1,750,000

The federal funds requested would improve water pressure and fire protection and improve the water treatment capacity and water quality to help the Tribe meet the TTHM standard.

 

Interior

City of Opa-Locka, Public Works Division

Wastewater Infrastructure Improvement Program

780 Fisherman Street #335, Opa-Locka, FL 33054

$500,000

The upgrades to the pumping stations and the lining of the 34 miles of gravity sewer lines will

significantly reduce the infiltration and inflow of storm water into the City’s wastewater system. This will reduce the cost paid to Miami-Dade County for wastewater treatment.

Florida Trail Association Inc.,

Florida National Scenic Trail Land Acquisition

5415 SW 13th Street, Gainesville, FL 32608

$500,000

This appropriation will protect 16 critical segments (3.8 miles on 525.7 acres) of the Florida National Scenic Trail.

 

Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies

Bay Point Schools, Inc.

Bay Point Schools Public Boarding School for At-risk Teens

22025 SW 87th Ave, Miami, FL 33190

$400,000

Bay Point Schools seeks to rehabilitate at-risk youth through a focus on academics, sports and/or vocational goals, decreasing drop-out rates, and giving youth job-ready vocational skills to join the work force.

St. Thomas University

Science and Computer Advancement Center

16401 NW 37th Ave., Miami Gardens, FL 33054

$300,000

The Science and Computer Advancement Center for Elementary Education at St. Thomas University will act in partnership with the Miami-Dade Public Schools to help elementary school teachers gain greater knowledge in science and computer study and train them in the teaching of science and computers with the use of scientific teaching material. This will help to raise the level of quality, student success and enjoyment of science and computer learning in elementary schools, leading to greater interest in careers in the sciences for minority students.

 Barry University

Center for Community Initiatives

11300 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami Shores, FL 33161-6695

$300,000

This initiative will strengthen existing partnerships with community and faith-based organizations, schools, neighborhood associations and agencies to ensure the program will address gaps in antipoverty service delivery system and not duplicate efforts.

Haitian American Association Against Cancer, Inc.

Minority Community Cancer Screening, Outreach, and Preventative, Education Program

225 NE 34th Street, Suite 208, Miami, FL 33137

$300,000

The program targets Haitian American, African American, and Hispanic women and men that are medically underserved, underinsured, uninsured and or indigent. It will provide cancer outreach, education and screening to these underserved communities, increasing the chances of survival and decreasing cost and suffering associated with late stage diagnosis of cancers.

Camillus House

Camillus House Behavioral Health Facility for Homeless

336 NW Fifth Street, Miami, FL 33128

$500,000

Camillus House provides humanitarian services to the poor and homeless populations of Miami-Dade County, Florida, including free meals, emergency housing, medical aid, substance abuse treatment and work training programs.

Jackson Health System

Information Technology Infrastructure Upgrades

1611 North West 12th Ave., Miami, FL 33136

$500,000

Funding will be used to upgrade Jackson Health System's technology infrastructure. This includes updating its systems to manage records and clinical information systems. This will enable the Jackson to improve patient outcomes and ensure the most efficient treatment and patient management.

Memorial Healthcare System

Memorial Healthcare System's Breast Services Expansion Initiative

3501 Johnson Street, Hollywood, FL 33021

$450,000

MHS provides comprehensive breast cancer services to numerous uninsured and minority women. This project will help all South Floridians, particularly those who live in Broward and Miami-Dade, get detected early regardless of health insurance or not, saving tax-payers money for those who were diagnosed at a later and more aggressive stage of cancer requiring extensive treatments.

 

Defense

Florida Memorial University

Minority Aviation Training Program

15800 Northwest 42nd Avenue, Miami FL 33054

$1,250,000

The Minority Aviation Training Program works to advance the opportunities available for students within Air Force activities. Students are given flight training and first-hand flight experience, enhancing efforts and opportunities for minority students within aviation activities.

 Laser Shot, Inc

Florida Army National Guard Future Soldier Trainer

4214 Bluebonnet Dr., TX 77477

$3,000,000

Funding will be used to provide the Florida Army National Guard with training systems which integrate soldiers into pre-basic training programs. This improves the training and readiness of companies when they are deployed, saving lives and increasing effectiveness.

 Jackson Health System

Military Trauma Training Enhancement Initiative

1611 NW 12th Avenue, Miami, FL 33136

$2,500,000

The planned upgrades will help Jackson improve its trauma center training programs in conjunction with the Army, and its ability to provide critical first response care for patients in Miami Dade County, including the military installations in the area, and will also improve Jackson's ability to respond to traumas and mass casualty events.

Florida A & M University

Future Affordable Multi-Utility Materials for the Army Future Combat Systems

1601 Martin Luther King Jr., Blvd, Tallahassee, FL 32307

$1,000,000

This project will help to develop and test low cost composite and other materials for soldier protection, creating lightweight effective materials to save the lives of active service men and women.

Florida A & M University

Standoff Improvised Explosive Device Detection Project

1601 Martin Luther King Jr., Blvd, Tallahassee, FL 32307

$6,000,000

Funding will be used to produce real-time standoff detection of IEDs utilizing state of the art sensor technologies to better anticipate and possibly prevent deadly threat to U.S. and Allied military forces.

 Barry University

Institute for Collaborative Sciences Research

11300 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami Shores, FL 33161-6695

$2,600,000

The University’s track record of advancing minority students in the sciences so that they can successfully pursue and excel at the graduate and doctoral level is outstanding. Barry University has been recognized by a number of federal science and research agencies for its development of undergraduate researchers in the sciences -- from the Department of Defense to the NIH and the NSF. Barry University addresses the critical importance of reaching into our high schools, to help meet our national workforce needs for the future in science. For example, Barry supports an award-winning physical science program, i.e., the Science Olympiad for high school students hosted by our Department of Physical Sciences. The majority of participants are women, Hispanics and African-American students. Barry's program produced one of the national Olympiad champions.

 

Homeland Security

City of Miami

Stormwater Project

3500 Pan American Drive, Miami FL 33133

$600,000

The City of Miami Stormwater Project will significantly mitigate flood conditions caused by local storms and will result in a reduction of flood damage and an increase in public safety for the City of Miami by implementing stormwater drainage projects throughout the City.

Jackson Health System

Hurricane Mitigation Structure Reinforcement

1611 North West 12th Ave., Miami, FL 33136

$500,000

Jackson Health System serves as an emergency evacuation shelter for medically at risk individuals. These reinforcement improvements would enable the Center to withstand a minimum of a category 4 hurricane, and maintain emergency healthcare operations in a time of catastrophe.

 

Financial Services

Barry University

Institute for Community and Economic Development

11300 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami Shores, FL 33161-6695

$100,000

The Institute for Community and Economic Development delivers research-based education and training to minority and women-owned business enterprises and those providing leadership in the non-profit sector in South Florida. Expansion of the Institute will allow more small businesses, family businesses, and community based nonprofit organizations to meet the challenges related to the present economic downturn.

 Miami Dade College

Institute for Intermodal Transportation

300 N.E. 2nd Avenue, Suite 1402, Miami, FL 33132

$300,000

The Miami-Dade College's Institute for Intermodal Transportation will provide for opportunities leading to careers addressing the future needs of the transportation industry. By creating education resources for transportation the Center would attract new opportunities for the City and the County and help meet future shortages in transportation employment opportunities.

 Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce

Technical Assistance and Economic Development Center

11380 NW 27th Ave., Suite 1328, Miami, FL 33167

$150,000

The project is designed to revitalize existing businesses and attract new businesses to Liberty City and surrounding areas. The program will promote the economic development of the black business community focusing on targeted areas. There will be an incubator that will house various programs such as the technical assistance, technology development, training and recruiting and economic activities. The targeted population is small minority owned businesses.

U.S. Rep. Kendrick B. Meek represents the 17th Congressional District of Florida which includes parts of Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. He serves as the lone Florida Democrat sitting on the House Committee on Ways and Means.

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