2011 Director’s Community Leadership Awards

The Miami Division is pleased to honor Ms. Essie Reed, president and founder of Team of Life, Inc., a non-profit organization that provides support to at-risk children.

Ms. Reed serves as a mentor to seventh grade students at New River Middle School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In this role, Ms. Reed provides meals, clothing, and transportation for students. Through her work, she empowers students to overcome social and economic challenges that impact their community. Additionally, Ms. Reed supports the Young Men and Women Business Association, an initiative to connect non-profit organizations with local businesses. The program affords young men and women an opportunity to impact their communities by collaborating with local businesses to address community needs. Through the program, young people are directly involved in assisting law enforcement to reduce crime, drug abuse, and violence.

Ms. Reed also works to ensure needy citizens have access to local health care providers that provide health screening, immunization, and HIV testing services.

Ms. Reed is an advocate for the homeless citizens of Dade and Broward Counties. She provides meals for the homeless throughout the year, and during the winter holidays, she collects several thousand donated frozen turkeys to help feed needy families.