Local hero Merline Barton up for Gen. Mills award

Coconut Grove's own Merline Barton (left) is a Community Champion according to General Mills' Feeding Dreams Program. She is one of 10 people chosen this year up for a final vote to become the 2010 National Champion. These are people who have impacted their communities in a positive way. It's General Mills' way of supporting the hopes and dreams of local communities.

Merline has worked in Coconut Grove for over 22 years. She was the Assistant Executive Director of the Coconut Grove Local Development Corporation and was the Project Coordinator in the award winning Grove Point 1 & 11 Affordable Housing Development along U.S.1 in Coral Gables and the Wind & Rain Scattered Site Housing Development in the West Grove. She was also instrumental in developing the collaborative membership of 35 agencies for the Children Services Award in the amount of $500,000, bringing much needed services to the West Grove Community. This resulted in the creation of Coconut Grove Family & Youth Intervention Center. Merline successfully coordinated a Job Training/Placement program for the West Grove community along with Coconut Grove Chamber of Commerce which placed several youths in permanent job positions.

Nine years ago, Merline Co-founded The Thelma Gibson Health Initiative, bringing social services programs to the heart of the community. The three core programs are At-Risk Minority Seniors with an ultimate goal for the improvement in quality and quantity of life for the participants through access to health care, also the Youth Prevention Intervention Program serving youth ages 5-18, providing individual and family counseling, education, mentoring, tutoring and cultural enrichment activities and the HIV/AIDS, Substance Abuse, Outreach, Education, Testing and Counseling targeting minority residents, many of whom are homeless and are presented with multiple issues such as untreated mental health and/or substance abuse issues along with HIV/AIDS. Throughout her community development career, she created social marketing techniques for low-income populations as well as coordinated fundraisers for the benefit of the West Coconut Grove Community.

This is a great honor and while we think Merline is already a winner and a hero in Coconut Grove, you can help make her a national hero by voting at the General Mills website. Voting has just started and goes on until October 21, 2010.