FIU, community leaders meet to “RE:VISION MIAMI”

FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg and CEOs for Cities hosted 60 movers and shakers from the local private and public sectors at the New World Symphony’s New Campus in Miami Beach Feb. 3 to discuss ideas for life in the Magic City and how these goals will be achieved.

Last fall, CEOs for Cities, a national civic lab of today’s urban leaders, launched the US Initiative to imagine a new kind of future for urban life in America.

On Feb. 3, CEOs for Cities and FIU brought together a group of local leaders to discuss ideas on how to “RE:VISION MIAMI,” bringing into focus how cities are changing to serve new demographic and economic realities that will reshape metropolitan life.

Held on South Beach, at the Frank Gehry-designed New World Symphony’s new home (a building both FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg and NWS chair and former Miami Beach mayor Neisen Kasdin called “a metaphor for Miami” and its desire to figure out the 21^st century), the event served as a cradle of cross-sector ideas for the future.

“I believe in Miami. It’s still a very young place. Everyone seemingly is from somewhere else, maybe some other country or some other place in this country,” said David Lawrence, the Miami Herald former publisher who now presides over the Early Childhood Initiative Foundation. “Miami is the kind of place where people can come and do anything, and what this event is for me is an opportunity to talk about what our future will be and how we can make it better for everyone, starting with the children.”

Among the suggestions made by the “former mayors table,” which included Kasdin and former Miami mayor Manny Diaz ’77, was an increase in connectivity, a link among the areas of the Magic City where ideas are happening, as well as better training for the next generation of leaders and the promotion of the arts.

“We’re proud to be part of ‘RE:VISION MIAMI’ because at Arts for Learning/Miami our mission is to advance teaching through the arts,” said Sheila Womble, the organization’s executive director. “Our goal is to make sure that every child has a chance to discover their hidden talents and that they live up to their full potential. We want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to be engaged.”