In December 2017, the Health Foundation of South Florida, in partnership with Citi Community Development and Federal Reserve of Atlanta, held a convening for executives of South Florida anchor institutions—large organizations like health and education systems and local governments that are deeply rooted in our community.

The group demonstrated an interest in taking collective action towards building community wealth, and it identified two key areas of opportunity: supplier diversity and workforce development. In other words, how could the anchors come together to drive more of their multi-billion-dollar annual business spend toward local, small, diverse businesses? In addition, how could they ensure anchors were investing in local hiring and talent development?

That first convening concluded with a clear call to action: take meaningful steps toward building a coalition that would have a positive impact on South Florida’s economic vitality and resiliency.

That’s how the South Florida Anchor Alliance was born.

Armed with a new idea and a decisive direction, by early 2019 leaders from Health Foundation, the Alliance’s backbone organization, began reaching out to anchor institution CEO’s and Presidents, and human resource and procurement staff members at their respective organizations. Within a few months, workgroups in Miami-Dade and Broward counties were established and began meeting. These meetings were attended by hospitals and healthcare systems, education enterprises and municipalities-coming together to harness their collective multi-billion-dollar spending power and vast human and intellectual capital in order to create a more just and inclusive local economy.

In 2020 The Anchor Alliance adopted a Blueprint for Action, an ambitious, forward-thinking plan that has potential to be truly transformational for the South Florida local economy. Since its adoption the SFAA has put into action systems to address supplier diversity with its South Florida Regional Market Place which is designed to help local small and minority-owned businesses access more contracts and opportunities with the anchors, and Workforce Development investments to addresses the nursing and allied health workforce crisis in South Florida by supporting a multifaceted student success initiative to enhance retention and completion rates of students.

Our work is not done and anchors members continue to meet to identify more areas of collaboration and more opportunities. 

If you are interested in learning more about the South Florida Anchor Alliance, please contact Project Director of the South Florida Anchor Alliance Megan Gamwell.