For 30 years, Chapman Partnership has empowered individuals and families experiencing homelessness to rebuild their lives with dignity and hope. Serving vulnerable populations that include individuals impacted by domestic violence, veterans, the disabled, unaccompanied youth, and justice-involved or justice-connected adults, helping them secure safe housing and connecting them with over 100 government and social services.
Founded in 1995 by Alvah H. Chapman, former publisher of The Miami Herald and chairman of the Knight Ridder newspaper division, Chapman Partnership was the first Homeless Assistance Center in Downtown Miami and served 500 nightly residents. Chapman died of pneumonia at age 87 on December 25, 2008 but to date, Chapman Partnership has provided the tools, resources, and support to help over 145,000 individuals break the cycle of homelessness.
I’ve been fortunate to have been of service to them going on three years now thanks to a referral from LMA Consultants, a boutique consulting and advisory firm founded by two dear people – President & CEO Lucy Morillo and Vice President Lisbet Fernández-Viña. [More on this after the video below]
The Illuminations Gala, which celebrated its 30th anniversary at the JW Marriott Marquis this year, is Chapman Partnership’s largest annual fundraiser. And every year, they award the prestigious Alvah H and Betty B Chapman Humanitarian Award to an individual or organization in Miami-Dade County who has been instrumental in leading the way in helping homeless men, women and children within the Miami-Dade community.
At the Gala, a tribute video precedes the trip to the podium and acceptance speech by the honoree. Now, I’ve been fortunate to have produced the past three videos for this award but this year’s production took on a special meaning for me. A responsibility, if you will. Who was this year’s honoree? Retired Judge Steve Leifman. Why did that matter? Read on…
For 30 years, Judge Leifman(*) served on the bench in the Miami-Dade County Court Criminal Division. During his tenure, he led the creation of the Miami-Dade Criminal Mental Health Project, a nationally recognized model that diverts individuals with mental illnesses away from jails and into treatment and housing. He also launched a pioneering training program that equips law enforcement officers to identify signs of mental illness and respond with care — prioritizing treatment over incarceration.
Judge Steve Leifman
Among his most significant contributions is the creation of The Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery, a new, 181,000-square-foot, seven-story facility set to open in the near future. The center will serve as a comprehensive hub for behavioral healthcare and stands as a critical step toward breaking the cycle of incarceration, homelessness, and untreated mental illness.
His passion for mental health reform started back in 2000 when the judge was trying to hear the case of a man accused of a minor offense. The defendant, long ago a student at Harvard, had a series of psychotic episodes in the courtroom and after court ordered psychological evaluations, the defendant was diagnosed with late-onset schizophrenia which made him incompetent to stand trial.
But under the system then in place, the judge had no ability to order any psychiatric treatment. “I had to release him back to the street, psychotic and eminently dangerous to himself and others,” the judge recalls. “None of us become judges or lawyers or professionals to be part of that kind of problem.”
Gala Hostess Laurie Jennings
The frustration led him to partner with others in South Florida to create the 11th Judicial Circuit Criminal Mental Health Project for Miami-Dade County. The program diverts non-violent misdemeanor and felony defendants with mental illnesses away from the criminal justice system and into appropriate mental health facilities.
Since the project’s launch in 2000, the number of arrests in Miami-Dade County has fallen from 118,000 a year to 53,000, Judge Leifman says. The jail population has dropped 7,400 to 4,400, and the county was able to close one of its three main jails. “It’s a gift for us to be able to see people you know go into recovery, get better and have lives,” Judge Leifman says. “It’s been an amazing journey.”
Now 11 years in the making(*), his Miami Center for Mental Health and Recovery is close to finally opening. The $50 million facility is a modern seven-story diversion facility with 208 beds and comprehensive services ranging from crisis stabilization and residential treatment to primary care, housing placement, job training and even on-site legal aid and a courtroom. The building is certified for occupancy but has yet to open.
Scott Hansel, President and CEO of Chapman Partnership
The delay stems from unresolved questions at the county level over how to sustain long-term operations – despite stark statistics noting that Miami-Dade’s jail is the largest psychiatric institution in Florida, housing as many people with serious mental illness as all state hospitals combined. Nearly 1,050 individuals with repeated bookings accounted for more than 20% of all mental health jail bed days over a recent five-year period, at a cost of $88.8 million.
These delays have caused frustration for a number of the center’s supporters, causing Miami city officials to press Miami-Dade County to immediately open the 181,000-square-foot mental health facility. This frustration was evident when I finally met and spoke with Judge Leifman when I paid a visit to the Center in early October.
At the Gala with Steve Leifman (center) and his brother Howard Leifman, Ph.D.
So now that you’ve all got a bit of the history, this year’s video took on a whole other level of importance for me. And as I went from interview to interview (all of which I conducted myself), my focus was to help illustrate the importance of this much-needed facility. And thanks to all the wonderful people I spoke to (and their passion for Steve and his mission), I think I succeeded.
[Some speakers in the video sent in their segments – it’ll be easy enough to determine who those were]
And meeting Judge Leifman’s 92 year old mother (and brother) capped off what I felt was one of my most important projects of this year. See for yourself…
For more information or to support Chapman Partenrship, visit chapmanpartnership.org
Now, back to LMA Consultants. You know, President & CEO Lucy Morillo and Vice President Lisbet Fernández-Viña? Yeah, them.
When I started my video production business back in 2006, it was Lucy Morillo, who was then President of the Miami Children’s Hospital Foundation (now named Nicklaus Children’s), who gave me my very first “big” video job – a featurette on the dedicated non-surgical staff at the hospital that would be screened at the very first Diamond Ball (Lucy’s idea), the Foundation’s extravagant signature yearly fundraiser. That was 18 years ago.
At the Illuminations Gala with Lucy Morillo…
That led to a working relationship with the hospital that put me into contact with the Foundation’s Director of External Affairs, Lisbet Fernández-Viña. Lisbet and I worked on several dozen patient testimonial videos over the course of her multi-year tenure there. They both went on to start LMA Consultants and over the course of the past few years, have contracted me for several different video projects. One of them being Chapman Partnership.
…and with Lisbet Fernández-Viña
They’re both very dear to me but I can assure you that I would probably not have been doing what I’ve been doing for the past 19 years without Lucy’s belief in me almost 18 years ago. She’s got a special place in my heart. As does Lisbet. Nuff said.