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Front Page » Profile » Leslie Miller Saiontz: Achieve Miami founder/CEO chairs Teach for America

Leslie Miller Saiontz: Achieve Miami founder/CEO chairs Teach for America

Written by on March 21, 2023
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Leslie Miller Saiontz: Achieve Miami founder/CEO chairs Teach for America

Leslie Miller Saiontz started non-profit Achieve Miami in 2015 after she saw first-hand the educational disparities suffered by less privileged school kids.

After volunteering at the local chapter of Teach for America, a non-profit that has created a network of teachers and leaders who commit to work for at least two years in low-income neighborhoods, she joined the organization and later became board chair. She is the longest-serving chair for any of the Teach for America chapters, and also serves on the national board.

Using her prior experience owning several children stores in Miami-Dade and managing real estate for 15 years, she founded Achieve Miami to continue and expand the work she envisioned.

Her goal is to develop programs that would narrow the opportunity gaps that low-income school children and their families face. “Education is the biggest equalizer in allowing us to really achieve and be who we need to be to support our city,” she said.

Achieve Miami has programs in over 70 local institutions, including Title 1 schools, in 15 neighborhoods across Miami-Dade.

Ms. Miller Saiontz’s philanthropic work started after Hurricane Andrew destroyed some of the stores she owned, and she put together a foundation to donate undamaged toys, clothes and shoes to families who had lost everything.

Investment from the public and private sectors, awareness of the inequalities suffered by lower-income families, and engagement from the rest of the community are things that she says will drive change and meet the needs of our public schools to achieve excellence.

Ms. Miller Saiontz spoke with Miami Today reporter Monica Correa.

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