PHOTO COURTESY OF CIRCLE OF BROTHERHOOD

By David L. Snelling

Miami – A rift is growing between a non-profit youth mentorship program designed to reduce gun violence, and a Miami-Dade County commissioner after its funding was suspended pending an audit to determine how the organization is spending the money.

It all played out at the Jan. 22 County Commission meeting when members and supporters of the Circle of Brotherhood flocked to the commission chambers to request the funding be restored and accused Commissioner Keon Hardemon of seeking political retribution.

The organization, which also addresses poverty, supported Hardemon’s opponent, former Miami-Dade Commissioner Audrey Edmonson, during the 2024 election in which he won by a landslide.

Hardemon felt the group was trying to intimidate him and left the chambers during his legislation to nix funding, until MiamiDade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and her administration furnish a report to determine if the funds were spent under the county’s grant guidelines.

Things got heated between Circle of Brotherhood Executive Director Lyle Muhammad and Commission Chair An-Circle of Brotherhood Executive Director Lyle Muhammad, right, at the group’s summer basketball and fitness camp with Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler. thony Rodriguez over the one-minute limit rule for public speakers.

“You really showed your face, chair,” Muhammad said after he asked Rodriguez who decides the time limit for speaking on an agenda item. “And I am dismayed. I’m truly saddened that you only wanted one minute of my time, giving what I come to speak on. So, what I’m going to do with one minute of my time is address someone who is not here [Hardemon] in reference to discretionary funds.

And what I mean by that is we need to start looking at the least, the lost and the left out.”

Muhammad said the Circle of Brotherhood has reduced gun violence in the Black community and is empowering youth with programs to interrupt the school to prison pipeline.

The mentors provide youths with options to seek better lives including encouraging them to finish high school and enroll in college or trade school.

The organization also hosts basketball camps that included Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler giving pointers to kids.

“Our foster care population in reference to reducing gun violence is saving these kids,” said Muhammad. “It’s quite a shame that you all were sent information by this brother who has been to the White House five times to give my expertise on gun violence.”

Muhammad then directed his comments to Hardemon, who was not in the chambers.

“I’m just sending out a warning to Commissioner Keon Hardemon,” he said.

Rodriguez warned Muhammad and others in the crowd that threats against county commissioners could lead to criminal charges.

“Threats on this chamber are taken very seriously,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said county commission rule bans public speakers from attacking a commissioner by name.

Hardemon couldn’t be reached for comment after the meeting.

He told the Miami Herald he believed the Circle of Brotherhood and its sibling organization Neighbors and Neighbors Association, which help mom and pop businesses, were trying to intimidate him.

Hardemon called the aggressive approach “gang activity.”

“When I saw some of the activity that was rolling in front of this dais, I recognized gang activity,” said Hardemon “What should we do to organizations that take the time to threaten elected leaders in our community?” According to the county’s grants program, the Circle of Brotherhood and Neighbors and Neighbors Association were each awarded $1 million in 2024.

The county wouldn’t say if it suspected misspending by the two organizations that warranted suspension of funds pending a review.

Members of the Circle of Brotherhood denied misspending funds, and said Hardemon is drumming up the accusation because the organization supported Edmonson during her campaign.

Edmonson’s campaign signs were posted outside the organization’s headquarters at Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall Social-Economic Institute in Brownsville.