A Black Love Letter: Empowering the Movement for Black Liberation
South Florida Times – December 15, 2020
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Florida Memorial University Creates a Social Justice Institute to Disrupt the World for Good
The HBCU Advocate – July 16, 2020
Ready, Set, Vote!
Ready, Set, VOTE! is a series of virtual town halls about how your civic engagement and voting give you power.
Find out how civic engagement and voting connects to critical components of your quality of life: racial history, criminal justice, education, student loans, art and culture, health care, jobs, housing and more.
FMU SJI Common Read Series
A collaboration between Florida Memorial University (FMU), FMU Social Justice Institute (FMU SJI), the South Florida People of Color (SFPOC), and the African American Research Library and Cultural Center of Fort Lauderdale (AARLCC), the South Florida Social Justice Common Read will create a series of curated conversations based on books on the subject of social justice and racial inequity.
The goal of the program is to engage the broader South Florida community in a conversation about systemic racism and the need for change.
2020-2021 Advocate-in-Residence: Valencia Gunder
Valencia Gunder or as most recognize her, “Vee”, is an enthusiastic, self-motivated and driven community leader who has been branded as the “Modern Day Fannie Lou Hamer”. A Miami native, Valencia is the Founder/Co-Director of the Smile Trust Inc., formerly known as Make the Homeless Smile Miami/Atlanta, Co-Founder of The Black Collective, and Campaign manager at Dignity Florida.
Valencia assists many community-based organizations with a variety of strategies around Florida to ensure that the community feels the impact in a positive way. Though she is not an environmentalist, Valencia has lead conversations around climate awareness in many communities on topics including sea-level rise, emergency preparedness, and climate gentrification, she is a part of the Steering Committee for Greater Miami, 100 Resilient Cities and has spoken around the country on her work around Climate Gentrification. She is the founder of the Community Emergency Outreach Center that assisted over 23,000 residents after Hurricane Irma.
After Hurricane Dorian, Valencia and the Smile Team expanded their emergency response outreach to the global south with their “One Bahamas” programs, providing over 3 tons of supplies to the islands of Bahamas in less than a week, building coalition with local Bahamian Orgs and assisting Bahamians that were seeking refuge in South Florida. After experiencing the tragedy of losing her goddaughter Jada Page to gun violence, Valencia worked through her grief and pulled her community together to fight against the status quo, receiving the Soros Justice Fellowship, Valencia created a Rapid Response toolkit “LIFT” to help decrease Police and inter community violence in Miami. Valencia, who is a returning citizen, was a leader on passing Amendment 4 in Florida which restored the right to vote to 1.4 million Floridians and works alongside over 80 Formerly incarcerated Black Women (Dignity Florida) to change legislation to assist with de-carcerating women in the State of Florida. Valencia has been a faithful advocate fighting alongside the residents of her community to ensure they receive fair and just treatment.