“Talent is a human being. Our job is to connect that human being to opportunity.”
Miami Dade College President Madeline Pumariega set the tone for Talent Strong Miami with those words on Sept. 2, as dozens of community, education, and business leaders gathered for a morning convening organized by Graduate Miami-Dade at United Way Miami, in partnership with the Florida College Access Network and Helios Education Foundation.
The event was part of Talent Strong Florida, a statewide campaign to help Florida reach 60% postsecondary attainment by 2030.
Graduate Miami-Dade is the Local College Access Network serving Miami-Dade County, bringing together educators, advocates and community leaders to expand postsecondary access and success across the region. The data makes clear why Miami-Dade is a critical front in that effort.
- The county graduates its high school students at a rate of nearly 98%, among the highest in the state
- Yet only 69% of those graduates go on to enroll in college or a postsecondary program
- And only 53% complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), leaving an estimated $27.7 million in Pell grant funding unclaimed every year, according to the most recent reporting year
The gap between who graduates and who goes on is where the opportunity lives and where the work of Talent Strong Miami is focused. For example, at Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High, the FAFSA completion rate is 27%, the lowest in the county, and a signal of how much federal aid is slipping away from students who qualify for it.
At the county level, the opportunity has a number: $1.24 billion. That is the annual social value Miami-Dade County stands to gain from a 10% increase in college enrollment. That improvement translates into 1,555 more students earning a credential, entering the workforce with greater earning power, and contributing to the long-term economic health of the region.
A student who completes a four-year degree earns $1 million more over their lifetime than a peer who finishes high school alone. Multiply that across a county of Miami-Dade’s size, and the stakes of the enrollment gap come into sharp focus.
The morning featured remarks from United Way Miami President and CEO Symeria Hudson and FCAN Executive Director Braulio Colón, followed by a keynote address from Pumariega. The data presentation, drawn from Helios Education Foundation’s Florida’s Future Billions report and Miami-Dade-specific data, was led by Dave Sobush, FCAN’s director of research and policy, and Kimberly Lent Morales, director of research and evaluation at Helios. Their findings set the stage for a cross-sector panel moderated by Phillip Lloyd Hamilton, associate vice president for student belonging and support at Florida International University.
Panelists included Alessandra Russo-Feijoo, district director of student services at Miami-Dade County Public Schools; Sobush; Lent Morale; Dr. Paula Hopkins, executive vice president of strategic partnerships and funding at the Miami-Dade Beacon Council; and Florida state Rep. Wallace Aristide of District 107.
The conversation examined which students fall off between graduation and enrollment, what employers can do to create pathways for students without four-year degrees, and where policy has the greatest opportunity to intervene.
Attendees viewed a four-minute Talent Strong Miami video, produced by Marc Darius at Dreams Geometry Media, featuring students, educators, and community leaders on what postsecondary education means for the county’s future.
Natalia Gamundi, program officer at United Way Miami and the Graduate Miami-Dade LCAN lead, closed the morning with a call to action grounded in Graduate Miami-Dade’s strategic goal: 70% of graduates continuing into college, training or quality employment by 2031. Gamundi challenged every organization in the room to identify the students already in their orbit and ask what it would take to connect more of them to a postsecondary credential this year.
The Talent Strong Miami breakfast was supported by the Florida College Access Network and Helios Education Foundation as part of the statewide Talent Strong Florida campaign.