Coral Gables developer’s novel approach? Move into the neighborhood. I support it | Opinion

Following the recent publication of a Miami Herald article called, “How a Coral Gables builder is winning trust from a community. It involves a home visit,” I have received an unprecedented avalanche of community outreach – notably, support and enthusiasm from local community members and the business community.

In my career as a former city of Miami commissioner, retired pastor and eternal activist, I have witnessed much. This stands out as a unique moment when we are seeing true consensus – and a newfound hope – across all sectors of our community.

I’ve been working to bring housing to our community and our church for over a decade. It’s a beautiful thing to see a developer like Ellen Buckley starting her own company to fulfill her vision of a better way.

Many months ago,we partnered with her firm and the CEG to deliver workforce home ownership on our church site at 10401 NW Eighth Ave. , near North Miami.

.Recently, she asked me if she could come into this community and live in it, so she could more deeply understand it. She could have stayed at her home in Coral Gables, and learned about this community from the outside, but instead she decided she needed to learn it from the inside.

You see, this community has a history of being neglected. I know it and I live it. Through this lens of being immersed in the community, Buckley not only studied but also embraced within her heart everything that is most important to our community. With Prospera Real Estate Collective, she is indeed raising the bar and setting a new standard in real estate development.

Rather than merely sitting behind her desk or relying on commissioned studies, Buckley is rolling up her sleeves, putting on her sneakers, and investing her personal time to deeply understand the communities she seeks to serve with her projects. Importantly, this approach builds long-awaited and critical bridges with members of the communities that can only lead to good things.

Why is this so important? Miami is at a unique moment in history when we have an opportunity to take our city to the next level by properly embracing the incredible economic, business and population growth coming our way.

We must seize this moment conscientiously and with intent, or we stand the risk of minimizing our success. At most significant risk, as always, are the underserved communities, many of which I’ve taken it upon myself to serve throughout my career.

I applaud Ellen Barkley for taking it upon herself to embrace this challenge and bring to life a long-awaited development model that balances the needs of all stakeholders – investors, partners, developers and community members – to create projects that foster human connections and bring meaningful and sustainable value to all.

We should all want to be part of them and I am a grateful beneficiary to partner with her on one of her many projects.

Barley’s newly introduced methodology, which she conceptualized based on her prolific real estate career and her research over the past two decades, can finally achieve what many developers and theorists have tried but failed to deliver: combining people and profits to produce the highest value for all stakeholders.

More specifically, here’s what this means:

▪ Value to people: Delivering vibrant places for people to connect can help minimize loneliness, a long-standing problem deteriorating health and well-being

▪ Value to place: Designing communities connected to multimodal transit, technology, goods and services can create healthier environments centered on walkability, wellness and vitality.

▪ Value to partners: Bringing solid returns for partners can help ensure ongoing access to capital and support necessary to transform more communities.

Moving forward, I pray that her genuine “commitment of immersion will become the rule rather than the exception,” especially as it pertains to home ownership versus rentals.

It is my hope, and that of the community I serve, that this marks the first step in a critical turning point when we can finally start to see people working together, rather than against each other, to achieve a greater good.

Rev. Richard P. Dunn II is a former Miami city commissioner. He recently retired as senior pastor of Faith Community Baptist Church in Miami. dmdlove30@aol.com