Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Catalyst Miami's vision is a just and equitable society in which all communities thrive. Even before COVID-19, 53.4% of Miami-Dade households were in liquid asset poverty, without the cash to survive 3 months in the absence of income (Prosperity Now 2020 Scorecard). Exacerbating these economic strains, Miami-Dade deals with the unknown of hurricane season each year. We estimate that a family of 4 needs $400-600 to prepare. For many, that cost is now out of reach.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
CLEAR
CLEAR = Community Leadership on the Environment, Advocacy & Resilience
The 10-week CLEAR program provides participants with the groundwork to become climate justice educators, leaders, and innovators in their own communities and beyond. Participants will develop a deep understanding of climate science, local climate change threats, and solutions.
Program graduates can apply for a Neighbors to Leaders Fellowship—mini-grants with continued mentorship—to support their own community resilience projects or initiatives.
HEAL
HEAL = Housing Equity, Advocacy, and Leadership
The 7-week HEAL program provides participants with the groundwork to become affordable housing advocates, educators, leaders, and innovators in their communities and beyond. Participants will develop leadership skills and a deep understanding of the history of housing advocacy, cutting-edge solutions, and how to get involved locally.
Program graduates can apply for a Neighbors to Leaders Fellowship—mini-grants with continued mentorship—to support their own housing justice projects or initiatives.
Catalyst to the Capital
Every year, we organize a three-day trip to Tallahassee, during which a delegation of community members, partners, and staff members meet with elected officials to discuss the issues of greatest concern to the communities we work with. Participants of Catalyst to the Capital (C2C) receive training, meet with legislators, and advocate for their communities.
Neighbors to Leaders Fellowship
The Neighbors to Leaders Fellowship provides assistance to such leaders who have gone through our leadership programs such as HEAL and CLEAR. Through this fellowship, participants gain access to financial resources, one-on-one technical support, and professional networks that advance the development of grassroots, community-based initiatives. This program allows our alumni to take the next step as they implement the training and skills they gained in our leadership programs to support their personal growth, strengthen our communities, and create a Miami-Dade in which we all thrive.
Financial and Health Services
Including financial coaching, credit building & coaching, tax preparation, healthcare access, income supports enrollment, FAFSA assistance.
Small business support
Small businesses are the bedrock of our local economy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Catalyst Miami was one of three organizations to receive a grant from the City of Miami to support small businesses that had suffered economic losses. We began providing technical assistance to help businesses get back on their feet, and we will continue offering this service beyond the pandemic.
Worker-Owned Enterprises Program
The Worker-Owned Enterprises Program equips participants with the tools to create employee-owned businesses called worker cooperatives. These businesses are owned and democratically run by the people who work there. Through cooperatives, the Program contributes to a new, more resilient economy that works for all by supporting living-wage jobs, creating business ownership opportunities, and developing wealth from the ground up.
Building Prosperity Workforce Cohort
The Building Prosperity Workforce Cohort aims to help people transition into full-time, living-wage jobs. Each cohort member is placed with some of Miami's top workforce programs offering employment training and opportunities. As they each go through their programs, they also meet monthly as a group to share their learnings and support each other—receiving $50 for each group meeting they attend.
Future Bound Miami
Future Bound Miami is a Children's Savings Account (CSA) program that establishes a free, long-term savings account for kindergarten students, increasing their readiness for college or postsecondary education. By 2023, we seek to establish a CSA for all kindergarten students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS).
The Enable Project
The Enable Project is a Catalyst-led coalition that trains nonprofits about inclusion of people with disabilities in their organizations and movements. The goals of this collaborative project are three-fold:
to assist persons with disabilities in securing public benefits to which they are entitled;
to increase civic engagement among people with disabilities so that their voice is heard in policy decisions that impact their lives; and
to increase the representation of people with disabilities in social justice movements.
During 2019, the Enable Project, in collaboration with Venture Café Miami and the Cambridge Innovation Center, hosted several meet-and-greets, events, and workshops. Training and presentations focused on topics designed to increase access and inclusion in civic engagement and social justice organizing in Miami-Dade County. We placed specific emphasis on the intersection of civic engagement and disability, building capacity around disability benefits service delivery, planning accessible events, and the intersection of domestic violence/sexual assault and disability.
Where we work
External reviews

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Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of meetings or briefings held with policymakers or candidates
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Also created space for 482 community members to participate
Policy wins at local, state, and corporate levels.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Local: 10 State: 10, Corporate: 1
Number of leadership development training graduates
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
CLEAR
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Decreasing
Context Notes
In 2019, we hosted 3 cohorts of CLEAR and 2 cohorts of HEAL. In 2020, we hosted 2 of CLEAR and 2 of HEAL.
Number of small businesses who received technical assistance
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of cooperatives incorporated
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Percentage of kindergarten students from first Future Bound Miami cohort to activate their free savings account
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
95% of kindergarten students received 2 sets of financial education lessons as part of the kindergarten curriculum
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Design and implement innovative programs to build the health, wealth, and civic engagement of people in low-wealth communities in Miami-Dade County.
Create opportunities for community members, business and civic leaders to work through and solve critical community issues together.
Promote engaged community leaders and constituency-informed policy and system reforms to better meet the needs of communities.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Catalyst Miami's community-building strategies are founded on the twin pillars of economic and democratic inclusion. Our work can be grouped into these twin pillars.
1) Community Economic Development
We believe residents are better able to prosper when they are healthy and financially secure. Through our free services and programs designed to help people and small businesses improve their health and financial stability, we are working to fulfill our vision of a more just and equitable Miami.
2) Policy & Advocacy
We believe community members should be at the helm of public decision-making, particularly regarding issues that are central to their lives. That’s why we train individuals to become grassroots leaders and build high-impact coalitions to effect change. Our policy and advocacy work also enables us to conduct deep community engagement, as well as coordinate and develop community-led programs that increase civic participation and resilience. Through this collective approach, we believe we can better build power toward constituency-informed policy and system reforms.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
For 25 years now, Catalyst Miami has ensured that families' basic needs are met, provide coaching and tools to establish long-term wellness, and create effective coalitions of change-makers. We are a nimble, innovative nonprofit. We untangle the biggest, boldest strategies to addressing poverty until they work to fit to serve Miami. All the while, our programs and services are driven by and centered around our most vulnerable community neighbors. We regularly request feedback from our clients and re-design our programs and services to best meet their needs over time.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Catalyst Miami has launched numerous innovative programs and services each year. Here are just three:
1. Future Bound Miami is a universal children's savings account program (the first in Florida) available currently at 30 City of Miami schools. Having launched in 2019, Future Bound Miami received funding from Miami-Dade County to expand to the next 98 schools in 2020. The program will continue to scale until it serves all of Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
2. In our financial coaching work, we regularly re-imagine ways and products to best help our clients save and build wealth. Finding ways to support clients dealing with hurricane season on an annual basis has given way to different solutions such as no-interest emergency loans and a matched savings program as covered by US News World & Report (A Miami Nonprofit Promotes Disaster Savings Accounts in Hurricane Season, September 22, 2020).
3. For 15 years, we've traveled with community members to Tallahassee every year to speak with our elected officials. 2021 was the the first time we met virtually with our legislators. We advocated for issues including Medicaid expansion, stable housing during the pandemic, and against the anti-protest bill.
Our advocacy and mobilization initiatives are creating transformative ecosystems:
- Building, growing and catalyzing new networks
- Connecting and leveraging existing networks
- Achieving policy wins through networks
- Increasing voter education and engagement
- Raising the level of community-led advocacy
- Boosting community participation in town halls, associations, committees
- Providing leadership development and opportunities to learn about public policy
Our comprehensive programs and financial products are making a difference:
- Lowering liquid-asset poverty and financial insecurity
- Reducing the number of unbanked and underbanked residents
- Lowering unemployment and underemployment
- Increasing the number of people with health insurance
- Increasing access to income supports, such as SNAP, TANF and EITC, for those most in need
- Helping people and small businesses find opportunities to boost their economic resilience
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Catalyst Miami
Board of directorsas of 02/22/2022
Damian Daley
DLF Attorneys
Term: 2021 -
Aileen Alon
aire ventures
Charles M. Auslander
Crabtree & Auslander
D. Marcus Braswell
Sugarman & Susskind
Mary C. Casey
JPMorgan Private Bank
Joaquin Dulitzky
AllianceBernstein
Jason R. Kaye
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Giuseppe F. Mantica
IBERIA Bank
Charmel Maynard
The University of Miami
Daniel Tramel Stabile
Shutts & Bowen
Gina Ciraldo Stabile
Cosmedical Technologies
Marjorie York
none
Cristina Zampieri
Amerant Bank
Melanie Garman
Truist Bank
Nyame Nti Nsibienakou-Fawohodie
Department of Health
Melanie Hapner
Amazon
Francoise Cham
Self-employed
Korene Stuart
Black Girls CODE
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 03/12/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.