MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – This summer, the Miami Dolphins in collaboration with HistoryMiami Museum and the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB) hosted its fifth series of the Football UNITES™ Cultural Tours presented by Baptist Health.
The four tours worked to engage Miami Dolphins players and staff with diverse community groups throughout the off-season. Participants were immersed in an exploration of Miami Dade and Palm Beach County’s history in an effort to create cultural experiences and understanding of its history and development. Since its inception in 2018, the Miami Dolphins Football UNITES™ program has hosted more than 20 cultural tours throughout South Florida.
The series kicked off in South Miami Dade on Wednesday, June 14, where Miami Dolphins OLB Bradly Chubb joined Football UNITES™ community partners, Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Asian Advisory Board, Big Brothers Big Sisters Dade, Lotus House and Special Olympics of Florida, in a guided tour of the Patch of Heaven Sanctuary highlighting the historic Silver Palm District and its impact on local conservation and reforestation initiatives. Participants also took part in a guided meditation at the Wat Buddharangsi Buddhist Temple in Homestead, Fl.
This was followed by a visit to West Palm Beach on the Brightline on Wednesday, July 12. Miami Dolphins staff joined by the 5000 Role Models of Excellence Project, Breakthrough Miami, the Jason Taylor Foundation Flo’Writers and Teen Talks participated in a tour of the Richard and Pat Johnson Palm Beach County History Museum highlighting a group of 26 artists who painted Florida’s landscapes during and after the era of segregation called the Florida Highwaymen. Participants later enjoyed a live painting demonstration by a Florida Highwayman, Robert L. Lewis.
Later that month, Miami Dolphins CB Kader Kohou and WR Braylon Sanders joined students of the Miami Dolphins summer internship program and Football UNITES™ community partners North Miami Beach Police Athletic League (PAL) and North Miami PAL on a private tour of HistoryMiami Museum’s newest exhibit, Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids. Participants learned about mythical creatures and its cultural traces back to Asia, Europe and the Americas.
The Dolphins concluded the series with an exploration of Miami’s Historic Virginia Key Beach where participants learned about its storied past and its historic cultural significance to Miami’s development during the civil rights movement on Wednesday, July 26. Football UNITES™ community partners that attended included Big Brothers Big Sisters Broward, the Dan Marino Foundation, Generational Cure and the Mexican American Council.
The Miami Dolphins Football UNITES™ presented by Baptist Health program strives to connect the intersections of the community to create a more inclusive South Florida. With a network of more than 50 community partners and allies, Football UNITES™ works as a collective to focus on improving relationships, fostering understanding and experiencing culture in way that ignites positive change.