By Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic

MIAMI | The old St. Francis Hospital on Miami Beach has long since closed, its waterfront property on Allison Island now home to a luxury condo development. Most of the religious sisters and former hospital staff retired or found new projects.

But the legacy of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany in Miami-Dade continued after the 1992 hospital closing, in the form of the sisters’ charitable foundation, which has supported improved health care and other nonprofit efforts here through half a million dollars in annual grants.

Now, the Allegany Franciscan Ministries — the sisters’ statewide charitable foundation based in Tampa — is putting a renewed focus on improving the health of Miami’s Overtown neighborhood, as part of a longer-term effort to be more targeted in their efforts to address poverty.

“It is something we are doing in all our three regions of Florida for the next five to seven years: focusing on one community so we can fulfill our mission more effectively and really move the needle forward,” said Eileen Coogan Boyle, president and CEO of Allegany Franciscan Ministries.

“We choose Overtown through a thoughtful process by looking at the areas of Miami-Dade with the highest poverty level and which also had the lowest health indicators,” said Boyle, adding that her organization has provided about $600,000 in annual grants within the Miami-Dade area and a total of $6 million annually throughout the state.

Originally called Colored Town during the Jim Crow era of the late 19th through the mid-20th century, the Overtown area was once described as the preeminent, historic center for commerce and jazz music in the black community in Miami and South Florida. It is situated not far from Jackson Memorial Hospital and was later dissected by I-95.

Allegany Franciscan Ministries was created with funds from several Catholic hospitals that the Franciscan Sisters owned around Florida, including St. Francis on Miami Beach and St. Mary’s Hospital in West Palm Beach. The foundation supports community health care initiatives and health care educational programs with individual grants of a maximum of $50,000, typically.

In recent years, the funds from Allegany Franciscan Ministries have supported community organizations such as the St. John Bosco Clinic sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph Health Foundation; the Casa Valentina youth health and wellness education program for foster children; and the Kristi House program for child victims of sexual abuse and exploitation.

In 2014, Allegany Franciscan Ministries developed its new Common Good Initiative to partner with specific neighborhoods such as Overtown, to create healthier, safer, and more prosperous places in which vulnerable residents can live and work. Allegany Franciscan Ministries will take a similar neighborhood-focused approach in its outreach in the Tampa and Palm Beach regions, moving from issue-based philanthropy to place-based outreach.

“This coming year most of our resources will be focused on the Overtown community, just that one neighborhood,” Boyle said. “Along with other community groups who are trying to learn and understand what the needs are there, we can we do something to really improve the lives of those people and make it a healthier place to live and play.”

Miguel Milanes, Miami-Dade regional vice president for Allegany Franciscan Ministries, said his agency has already funded several Overtown-related charities but has been working more closely with local partners to shift a greater focus there for the next five to seven years.

One such partner, the Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency, has been working to bring in new business and a major grocery store to the Overtown neighborhood, while other small nonprofits and potential funding partners include the Overtown Children and Youth Coalition, the Lotus House homeless shelter for women and children, Touching Miami With Love, and the Overtown Youth Center, according to Milanes.

“It is a community struggling for so many years but we see the potential for Overtown to be on the cusp of economic revival,” Milanes said. “We see Overtown as ready to take it to the next level, primed for having an impact with our dollars and other funders who see it as a viable investment opportunity.”

Allegany Franciscan Ministries has not yet announced exactly where it will place its financial support in Overtown for next year, but will be honing those decisions during September meetings.

Right now the foundation wants get to know the community better and to establish key relationships rather than just pouring money in, according to Milanes. “It’s an exciting future and something the community is looking forward to.”

In addition, Allegany Franciscan Ministries has been busy documenting the memories and good works of the religious sisters and former staff of St. Francis Hospital by accumulating some 10 hours of videotaped interviews. The project has been edited down to a short video that will be shown at a dinner set for Sept. 11 at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.

Allegany Franciscan Ministries is hosting the special event as a way of honoring the memory and legacy of St. Francis Hospital. About 60 guests are expected, including several former employees of the hospital and 15 Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, NY.

Organizers said the event will feature a blessing ceremony, and every guest will receive a tiny piece of the hospital — sand from Miami Beach and rocks from the rubble of the demolished hospital.

The former employees and most recent board members of St. Francis Hospital will symbolically pass the spirit of the hospital on to the board of directors of Allegany Franciscan Ministries as a way to usher in the new era, according to Boyle.

Patrick Carolan, president of Franciscan Action Network, will offer a keynote speech.

For more information on the event, contact: [email protected] or call 305-860-1441.