Staff Report

MIAMI – The Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce (M- DCC) will honor some of South Florida’s best and brightest icons on December 3 when it hosts its 11th Annual Holiday Gala: Embracing the South Florida Multicultural Business Community “Cruising into the Future.” The black-tie gala will take place in the exquisite Jungle Island’s Treetop Ballroom, 1111 Parrot Jungle Trail in Miami. It will begin with a cocktail reception and silent auction at 6 p.m. and be followed by a gourmet dinner, awards presentation, and a live performance by Grammy Award singer Howard Hewett.

Under the theme, “Cruising into the Future,” guests will have the chance to be swept away by Hewett’s signature voice and resort styled amenities. This year, Joe Arriola, Chairman of Public Health Trust at Jackson Memorial Hospital, will serve as the honorary gala chair.

Honorees for being trailblazers in business, civic and community leadership include: Dr. Dorothy Jenkins Fields, Dr. Nelson Adams and Rodney Baltimore.

Fields will receive the H.T Smith Lifetime Achievement Award for being a visionary and trailblazer in the preservation of local black history. She is the Founder of the Black Archives Lyric Theatre Cultural Arts Complex.

Adams will be presented with the Distinguished Service Award for his leadership in the medical field. He has passionately committed his life to eliminating racial and ethnic inequality in health. He is currently the Chairman of the Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Jackson North Medical Center.

Baltimore will be presented with the Citizen of the Year Award. In addition to his decades long career at HOT 105 as co-host of the Tom Joyner Morning Show, Baltimore is a true community activist, for and ‘about’ the people. He has a genuine desire to help those in need as evidenced by his passion broadcasting community outreach initiatives.

“As the amazing landscape is being built in Miami, Miami-Dade County and all of South Florida, it is impertive that the hands that shape the new landscape are reflective of all the residents of our great community. Our future and its success depend on the narrative that is being written today, and how we as a community are being inclusive as the great renaissance is being written,” said G. Eric Knowles, President and CEO of M-DCC.

Individual tickets are available for $200 per person and $2,250 for a table seating 10 guests. Event sponsorships, ranging from $3,000 and up, are also available and offer corporations the opportunity to promote one’s company to an audience of South Florida’s top business executives, elected government officials and community leaders.

For more information about this event, sponsorship packages and/or to purchase tickets, please visit, m-dcc.org.