For the past 18 years, Blanca Galvez has dedicated her professional life to the treatment of those afflicted with the disease of alcoholism or substance abuse. She developed one of the nation's first bilingual treatment programs in Chicago, and is a founding member of the Inter American Commission on Alcohol Studies. She created the Positive Power seminars designed to meet the special needs of women and minorities. She has served on the boards of directors of the YWCA and the Coalition of Hispanic American Women, and is currently chairperson of the City of Miami Commission on the Status of Women.
State Representative Elaine Gordon has served in the Florida legislature since 1972. She is chair of the Health Care and Strategic Budget Planning committees, and the Science, Industry & Technology Public Utilities subcommittee. She was ranked among the top ten House and Senate members "for effectiveness in passing and supporting legislaton beneficial to the entire state and her district" by a panel of ten lobbyists and journalists for the past three consecutive years. She is a charter member of the Dade County Commission on the Status of Women. Her many awards include the Leonard L. Abess Humanitarian Award by the Anti-Defamation League, the Dade County League of Cities Good Government Award, and the Miami Ballet Society Outstanding Woman of Our Community award.
Helen Muir wrote Miami, U.S.A, first published in 1953, still in-print, and still an excellent introduction of Greater Miami's history. She has written for national magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, and for the Miami Herald and the Miami News. The Biltmore: Beacon for Maimi, a history of the Biltmore Hotel, was published in 1987. She has served on Friends boards for Miami-Dade Public Library System and the University of Miami Library. For the past ten years she has been a member of the State Library Advisory Council. In 1984 Helen Muir received the Trustee Citation of the American Library Association and was elected to the Florida Women's Hall of Fame.
Since 1963, Leona Cooper has worked as Supervisor of the microbiology department clinical laboratory at the Miami Veterans Administration Medical Center. She also teaches for the University of Miami School of Medicine, the Miami-Dade Community College Medical Technology Program, and the Florida A. and M. University College of Pharmacy Program. Cooper currently participates in ten organizations, including the Dade County Commission on the Status on Women and the Coconut Grove Business and Professional Womens Club. She chairs the Catholic Social Advocacy Commission, Archdiocese of Miami. She serves on the boards of various organizations, including the Museum of Science, St. Alban's Day Nursery, the Trial Board of the City of Coral Gables, and the Freddick Bratcher Contemporary Dance Theatre.
Eugenia Thomas works at the Metro-Dade Department of Justice Assistance, Administrative Management Division, where she oversees the implementation of special projects. Although Thomas' profession has provided opportunities to aid families and youth, perhaps her greatest contributions to humankind comes from her free involvement in affairs against racial discrimination. She helped organize and continues to lead the McLamore Center, which cares for abused and neglected children. She served as the first black president of the American Association of University Women, Tamiami Branch, the Children's Home Society, and, in 1988, the Florida Parent Teacher's Association.
Teresa A. Zubizarreta created Zubi Advertising Services in 1972, where she presently is President and CEO. The firm specializes in servicing the Hispanic market. She has served on the Boards of Directors of United Way, Greater Miami United, South Florida Blood Services, the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the New Miami Image Committee. She is a co-founder and past chairman of FACE, Facts About Cuban Exiles, and recently was elected as a member of the Orange Bowl Committee.
Dr. Feinberg is a Visiting Associate Professor of Education in the Department of Urban, Multicultural and International Foundations at Florida International University. For the past 17 years, she directed Lau activities for the University of Miami Desegregation Assistance Center, which sponsored training and technical assistance activities in a multi-state area for school districts with National Origin Minority students. She has served as a consultant to federal and state education agencies, native American school systems, ministries of education, school districts, school board associations, universitites, professional associations, and community based organizations. She was a public school teacher for 12 years, in Leon, Gadsden and Dade counties, a commissioner of the Florida Post Secondary Education Planning Commission, a member of Dade County's Housing Finance Authority, and is the first Hispanic woman to win county wide election and to serve as a member of the Dade County School Board.
Miami's lady of philanthropy has been a realestate investor, Florida's first licensed female building contractor, a Ziegfield showgirl, and an enormously successful businesswoman. She married one of the community's most successful citizens, who was a banker, lawyer, investor, real estate developer, and community leader. She supports a wide range of charities, but those benefitting children and the elderly have been favorites in a lifetime of charitable work. Her $10 million bequest to Mount Sinai Medical Center in memory of her late husband, Baron de Hirsch Meyer, is the most generous in the history of this institution.
Carrie Meek is Special Assistant to the Vice President, Miami-Dade Community College, North Campus. She has over 40 years of educational experience as a teacher and administrator in schools and colleges. She has completed course requirements for an Ed.D. in Education Administration at Florida Atlantic University. Her legislative career began in 1979, when she was elected to the Florida House of Representatives. In 1982, she was elected to the Florida Senate, where she continues to serve. Meek participates in the State Advisory Council on Community Education, NOW, NAACP, Women's Chamber of Commerce, Urban League of Greater Miami, Dade County United Way Board, Florida Memorial College Board, Metro-Miami Action Plan board, and habitat for Humanity board.
Elaine Bloom is a member of the Florida House of Representatives and immediate past chairman of the Dade County Legislative Delegation. In November 1992 she became Speaker Pro-Tempore of the House for 1992-1994. During service in the House 1974-1978, she wrote Florida's International Banking Act. She served as Deputy Majority Leader from 1986 to 1988. She currently chairs the Health Care Committee and the Tourism and Cultural Affairs subcommittee. A former radio and TV broadcaster and government relations consultant, Representative Bloom received her A.B. from Barnard College, is a Fellow of Brandeis University, and is a former trustee of Florida International University.
Dorothy Fields is the founder and chief archivist of the Black Archives, History & Research Foundation of South Florida, Inc. She also is a Social Studies Specialist for the Dade County Public Schools System. She earned a M.A. degree in education from the University of Northern Colorado, and is certified in archives administration. She has served on the boards of directors of many organizations, including the Florida Endowment for the Humanities, SCPS School Volunteer Program, and the Metro-Dade Historic Preservation Board.
One of the first members of the Dade County chapter of the National Organization of Women in the mid-1960s, Monna Light went on to serve on the national NOW board. He helped found the Dade County Women's Political Caucus and the Florida WPC. She was appointed as the State of Florida representative to the Steering Committee of the National Women's Political Caucus. She has been a member of the Dade County Commission on the Status of Women since 1973, serving as its chair from 1979 to 1982, and of the City of Miami Commission on the Status of Women since 1985. Lights has served on the executive board of the National Association of Women's Commissions.
Dr. Eve McNanamy is a clinical psychologist and marriage and family therapist. She is also engaged in the independent practice of counseling and psychotherapy for children and adults. She earned her doctorate in Psychology from the University of Miami, and served her clinical internship at Jackson Memorial Hospital. She is on the Board of Advisors of the Women's Alcohol Education Center, and was the Greater South Dade Chamber of Commerce Education Chair. She is past president of Let's Cope, Inc.
Executive editor, the Miami Herald. 1978 United Way campaign chairman.
Ferendino/Grafton/Spillis/Candella. 1975 United Way president.