Daniella Levine Cava is the first woman elected as Mayor of Miami-Dade County, winning office in November 2020 and re-elected in August 2024. She oversees a metropolitan government serving nearly 3 million residents with more than 31,000 employees and manages an annual budget of approximately $12 billion. Her administration focuses on building a stronger, more resilient, and prosperous community through initiatives addressing public health, gun violence prevention, economic development, affordable housing, environmental preservation, and enhanced public transit[1][5][6]. Before becoming mayor, Levine Cava served as Miami-Dade County Commissioner for District 8, first elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2018. In that role, she championed economic opportunity, environmental protection, expanded police presence in underserved areas, affordable housing, and government transparency. Her public service career spans over 40 years, including work as a social worker, lawyer, and community activist advocating for vulnerable children, families, and immigrants[1][2][3][4]. Levine Cava’s early career included serving special needs children and immigrants at Legal Services of Greater Miami and representing children in foster care through the Guardian Ad Litem Program. After Hurricane Andrew in 1992, she helped develop a new intake system for child abuse cases in Florida’s Department for Children and Families. In 1996, she founded Catalyst Miami, a nonprofit supporting low- and middle-income families through education, service, and advocacy, assisting about 5,000 people annually[3][4][7]. Born in New York and partly raised in Latin America, she holds a psychology degree with honors from Yale University and graduate degrees in law and social work from Columbia University. She moved to South Florida in 1980 with her husband, Dr. Robert Cava, a Miami native. They have two children and reside in Miami-Dade[2][3].
#families #immigrant detainees #transparency
Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has requested access and monitoring of the site from Florida's attorney general, highlighting the urgent need for transparency and accountability in the treatment of immigrant detainees.