Issues > Youth and Families.  

Michael's passion for building stronger children and families is a natural outgrowth from the support and guidance he received growing up in a nurturing community -- a community that embraced his family and willingly stepped in to cultivate his potential.  While in undergraduate school, Michael began tutoring fellow students and helped establish programs that would encourage other young people to pursue a career in the sciences.

After undergraduate school, Michael moved to Los Angeles, California where he then spearheaded and supported community initiatives like [-] the development of tutorial programs for abused children, [-] organizing a weekend Christian Youth Camp as a deterrent to gang infiltration, [-] helped develop math curriculum for a weekend pre-science institute at California State University and [-] served as mentor to Middle School youngsters at risk for failure.

His dedication continued when he returned home to Ft. Lauderdale in 1991, shortly thereafter becoming the chair of the Youth Council for Workforce One -- supporting initiatives like the youth summer employment program and higher education scholarships.  Michael presently serves on the Nurturing Children and Families subcommittee of the United Way Community Impact Vision Council.  He has been a mentor for Engineering and Computer Science students at Florida Memorial University since 1995.  

Michael has been and continues to be a state and national legislative advocate for adequate funding and procedural clarity for workforce, education and justice issues that are designed to maintain a strong family unit. He will continue this commitment to lowering the barriers and reducing threats to family stability -- creating innovative initiatives and legislation to effectively address issues such as youth transitioning from foster care, foster care safety and accountability, family strengthening, children's health care, and more.