Miami Dade College will celebrate the legacy of former U.S. Rep. Carrie P. Meek on Saturday by unveiling a historical marker at the Liberty City facility named in her honor.
The ceremony is set for 11 a.m. at MDC’s Carrie P. Meek Entrepreneurial Education Center, 6300 NW 7th Avenue, Miami. The public event is expected to bring together local leaders, elected officials, educators, students, alumni, and neighborhood residents.
U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami Gardens, will present a commemorative check to support ongoing community-focused programs at the site.
The Meek Center operates as a primary outreach hub. Its curriculum focuses heavily on entrepreneurship, technology, business-related fields, vocational training, and overall community development.
Organizers view the marker dedication as an opportunity to reflect on Congresswoman Meek's decades of advocacy for education and economic mobility.
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“Congresswoman Carrie P. Meek was a trailblazer who opened doors that had too often been closed to others,” said MDC President Madeline Pumariega in a statement before Saturday's planned ceremony. “Her courage, leadership and unwavering commitment to South Florida and Miami Dade College helped change the course of our community.”
Throughout her political career, Meek advocated for affirmative action, economic opportunity and efforts to support Haiti. She worked to rebuild Miami-Dade after Hurricane Andrew, securing $100 million in aid for the restoration effort. After leaving Congress, she returned to Miami and created the Carrie Meek Foundation to champion education and housing issues.
Before becoming a politician, Meek was an educator. She was the first female basketball coach at Bethune-Cookman College, before continuing her career as a teacher and administrator at Miami Dade College, then Miami-Dade Community College. She worked there for over 10 years, becoming the college’s first Black professor.
Meek was the grandchild of a slave and a sharecropper’s daughter who became one of the first Black Floridians elected to Congress since Reconstruction. She died in 2021 at the age of 95.
Saturday’s unveiling honors Meek’s legacy and commemorates the center’s recent designation by the Florida Civil Rights Museum.
“This historical marker is a lasting reminder of the difference one determined leader can make — and of the responsibility we have to carry that spirit of service forward,” said Pumariega.
