Photo: The Jai-Alai Network
Photo: Bird Global
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Armando Christian Pérez, aka Pitbull
Miami-Dade Roundup
Pitbullish on Jai Alai
SPOTLIGHT
Armando Christian Pérez, aka Pitbull — aka Mr. 305 and Mr. Worldwide — has taken an equity ownership role in the World Jai-Alai League operating at the Magic City Casino.
The move “is not just business,” he says, “it’s about celebrating Miami’s culture and history. We’re going to redefine the game and reach a new generation of fans.”
Miami’s first jai alai fronton opened 99 years ago in Hialeah. The game, which originated in Spain, is dubbed “the world’s fastest ball sport.” It is played on a three-walled court. The pelota, or ball, is caught and flung from a wicker basket known as a cesta at speeds as high as 180 mph. It was popular during much of the 20th century, with frontons throughout the state, before fading significantly.
Pitbull, 42, is the latest South Florida celebrity to join the effort. Other backers include Miami native and 20-year Miami Heat star Udonis Haslem, NFL Hall of Famer and former University of Miami star linebacker Ray Lewis, retired MMA fighter Jorge Masvidal and 2016 Olympic Gold Medal winning tennis star Monica Puig.
The World Jai-Alai League says its revival plan is tied to “capitalizing on the exploding international sports wagering market and delivering the sport through social media to a new generation of fans across the globe.”
GRANTS
- A $1.1-million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant will help launch a program aimed at better serving the health needs of LGBTQ+ people in Miami-Dade County. The grant goes to Urban Health Partnerships (UHP), which hopes it will be the first of five years of funding from NIH’s Common Fund Community Partnerships to Advance Science for Society. It aims to help “leave a lasting imprint on the health and wellbeing of our Miami-Dade LGBTQIA+ community,” says UHP CEO Andrea Iglesias. UHP will work with the University of Miami, the University of Florida, the SAVE Foundation and the Health Council of South Florida on the project.
- Miami-Dade’s Homeless Trust secured an $8.4-million federal grant to try to address youth homelessness. The Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program includes housing options and programs for unaccompanied minors, including pregnant girls and young parents. The trust will coordinate with related groups like Youth Voice Action Council and the Housing Our Miami-Dade Youth Collective to “design meaningful solutions that make youth homelessness rare, brief and onetime,” says Ronald L. Book, the trust’s chairman.
EDUCATION
- Florida International University is part of a $7-million National Science Foundation grant to advance STEM education within Hispanic-serving institutions, a federal designation for nonprofit higher education institutions whose undergraduate enrollment is at least 25% Hispanic. It will work with Orlando’s Valencia College, California State University, Sacramento, the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras and the University of Texas at El Paso in the UNIDOS Center for Community Collaboration. The collaboration includes professional development support and a series of “Innovation Sandbox” workshops in which faculty and researchers work together on funding proposals and educational programs.
- FIU’s Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom announced four senior leadership fellows, including former Ecuadorian President Jamil Mahuad, Venezuela’s former interim President Juan Guaidó, former U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic Robin S. Bernstein and Croatia’s former foreign affairs Minister Miomir Ã...½uÃ...¾ul. Each will hold off-the-record study groups with FIU students on issues involving democracy and leadership.
- An eight-week aviation training program for Opa-locka residents includes the promise of full-time employment upon completion. The city partnered with Barrington Irving Technical Training School on the “Flying Classroom” program at Miami-Opa-locka Executive Airport, which provides 140 hours of STEM education.
MILITARY
- Personnel based at the U.S. Southern Operations Command in Doral soon will have access to 135 housing units under construction just off base — 75 for families and 60 for single service members. The 51-acre development is the U.S. Army’s first privatized housing project in 13 years in the Miami area. The $110-million project by Lendlease, an Australian developer, will be one of seven projects completed by the company at Army installations nationwide. Lendlease owns and manages more than 40,000 homes for the U.S. military.
TECHNOLOGY
- Anaplan, a San Francisco-based software company specializing in cloud-based business planning and analytics, will move its headquarters to Miami next year. The company recently was bought by private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $10.4 billion. Thoma Bravo’s billionaire founder Orlando Bravo lives in Miami Beach and Anaplan CEO Charlie Gottdiener lives in Miami.
- Flex secured $120 million in debt and equity funding. Florida Funders provided the $20-million equity stake to expand Flex’s staff for product development, marketing and sales. The Miami-based fintech company, headed by Zaid Rahman, launched a finance app for small business owners. It offers bank accounts and a credit card that doesn’t charge interest for two months on small business purchases.
PERFORMING ARTS
- The University of Miami’s Knight Center for Music Innovation formally opened last month with a gala featuring Grammy-winning musicians and iconic names. The $36-million, 25,000-sq.- ft. center, part of the Frost School of Music, includes a 200-seat theater and a separate “innovation stage” with advanced recording, lighting and broadcast technology.
MENTORING
- 5000 Role Models of Excellence, U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson’s in-school mentoring program, has expanded to the Bahamas. The program, already in public schools in Miami-Dade, Broward, Pinellas and Duval counties, provides support for at-risk boys from grades three through 12. Wilson, a Miami Democrat, is the first Bahamian American to serve in Congress. In 2020, Congress passed her Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys Act, which she hopes will take the mentoring program national. It already has a Detroit chapter.
