SHARE:
South Florida Extra - Pacesetter
Tuned Into Kids
Jorge A. Plasencia, 32,
Vice president and operating manager:
AM stations/ RadioCadena, Univision, and chairman of Amigos for Kids, Miami.
Hometown: Coral Gables and Miami Beach.
Sports: "I'm a huge Heat fan." Also a former Hispanic marketing manager for the Florida Marlins.
Cocktail party chatter: At some chic Miami function, Plasencia is apt to turn the talk real with something like: "You know less than a mile away, kids are sleeping on the floor, and parents don't know how they're going to put food on the table. That's the unfortunate reality we have in Miami."
Aspiration: To take national the Amigos for Kids organization he co-founded at age 17.
Jorge A. Plasencia is the first to admit the ad campaign launched this year by Amigos for Kids, a non-profit group for disadvantaged children, is disturbing. Stark black and white images of a sexually abused girl, a battered boy and a neglected child could scarcely be otherwise.
"But this is the reality we live with every day," says Plasencia, 32, a Cuban- American who co-founded Amigos for Kids with other young Miamians in 1991. The theme of the ad campaign is "There's NO excuse for child abuse!"
Plasencia, chairman of Amigos for Kids, helped the organization grow to a $1.2-million annual budget with 18 staff members and some 400 volunteers who provide diverse help for abused and neglected children in south Florida. Programs range from a reading club and toy drives to after-school culture and arts programs. It hosts educational seminars to hone parenting skills. Though Plasencia regularly puts in nights and weekends at the organization, none of that has hampered his career. He was promoted this spring to vice president and operating manager for AM stations/ RadioCadena at Univision, where he oversees some 18 AM news and talk channels in 11 cities. And he has ambitious plans. "Our future goal at Amigos," says Plasencia, "is to take what we've done and grow it in other cities."
