Catalyst for Leaders.
Breakthrough Miami is proud to welcome Griffin Catalyst—the civic engagement initiative of Citadel Founder and CEO Kenneth C. Griffin—as a partner in expanding our nationally recognized students-teaching-students leadership pathway, creating more opportunities for young people across South Florida to teach, lead, and thrive.
“Breakthrough Miami has a profound impact on the lives of Miami students by teaching them the leadership and learning skills they need to pursue their dreams and aspirations, said Kenneth C. Griffin. “I care deeply about the lives of young people, and I am excited to know that my support of Breakthrough Miami will make a meaningful difference in our community.”
For three decades, Breakthrough Miami’s evidence-based, near-peer teaching model has been designed to create dual impact: younger Scholars benefit from engaging, high-quality instruction and mentorship, positively impacting academic and social development, while older students gain hands-on leadership experience and professional confidence through an immersive teaching experience.
“There are few places where a 14- or 15-year-old can begin a structured leadership journey that can continue through high school and college, gaining real teaching, mentoring, and workforce experience,” said Lori-Ann Cox, CEO of Breakthrough Miami. “Student leaders at Breakthrough Miami learn to operate as professionals early, managing responsibilities, leading groups, and seeing themselves as capable contributors. Griffin Catalyst’s support allows us to scale this unmatched youth leadership pathway.”
Students can begin as Volunteer Teachers and progress to Teaching Assistants and Teaching Fellows, gaining more than 1,200 hours of classroom teaching, mentorship, instructional coaching, and leadership development throughout high school and college.
Griffin Catalyst’s partnership will strengthen every stage of that journey by expanding instructional coaching, leadership training, recruitment, evaluation, and program capacity while creating additional paid Teaching Assistant and Teaching Fellow opportunities for students across South Florida. These emerging leaders gain transferable skills in instructional design, public speaking, project and time management, adaptive problem-solving, collaboration, and communication while exploring careers in education, youth development, and mental health and social services. At the same time, younger Breakthrough Scholars benefit from engaging instruction, meaningful mentorship, and positive role models who inspire them to imagine what’s possible.
Accelerated by Griffin Catalyst, Breakthrough Miami will support more than 600 high school and college student leaders each year while strengthening educational opportunities for the 1,800 Breakthrough Scholars we serve across South Florida.
As Breakthrough Miami celebrates 35 years of expanding opportunity and advances our vision to serve 40% more students by 2030, we’re proud to welcome Ken Griffin and Griffin Catalyst as partners in preparing the next generation of leaders and expanding opportunity for thousands of young people across our community. ♦
