About Us

Switchboard of Miami, Inc.

Established in 1968, is a private, nonprofit organization that provides the Miami-Dade County community with comprehensive telephone crisis counseling, suicide prevention, information and referral services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Our agency also offers free individual and family counseling services and prevention programs for high-risk youth and their families based in local schools.

The Children's Trust

In the late Eighties, recognizing that the needs of children in Miami-Dade County far exceeded the resources and support systems available, a cadre of committed individuals spearheaded a drive to address the problem. Using a Florida statute that allowed for such an initiative, the group generated a two-part referendum in 1988. Voters overwhelmingly recognized the need to help area children, but declined to fund the remedy through tax revenues. 

With a new strategy and renewed commitment, another cadre of citizens, spearheaded by the savvy fund-raising efforts of retired Miami Herald Publisher David Lawrence Jr., provided a new initiative in 2002. Given this second opportunity and with a much better funded campaign, Miami-Dade voters in September 2002 approved an independent special district, a dedicated funding source for children entitled "The Children's Trust." The vote was 2-1 in favor. One key difference between the 1988 and 2000 campaigns was that the latter emphasized that the commitment would be to all Miami-Dade children, while clearly recognizing that some children are more at risk and, hence, need and should get more help.

A "sunset provision" requires that the initiative be returned for voter approval. That vote is set for Aug. 26, 2008, and if approved, "The Children's Trust" will be created permanently (as are children's service councils in seven other Florida counties).