South Florida’s biggest business stories of 2012

For South Florida’s economy, 2012 centered on one main question: Would the recovery continue?

The answer: Yes, and slowly.

Housing values continue to climb, unemployment rates shrink, hiring grows and spending strengthens. And yet 2012 ends on the same general theme as 2011: Things are getting better, but at a slow enough pace that South Florida will have to wait at least another year for a healthy recovery to begin.

Behind the broad economic tide, news crashed onto the scene. And now it falls on Business Monday to rank their significance.

We do this each year December as a way to put the year’s business news in perspective. For the rankings, we use three criteria.

First, how important was the news for South Florida’s economy? We only have 10 slots to fill, so the news needs to be big.

Second, how unique was the news to South Florida? National events can have major impacts in South Florida, but we’re looking for news that’s particularly noteworthy to the region.

Third, how unique was the news to this year? Long-term trends can impact an economy for years, but we’re looking for stories clearly linked to 2012.

On to the rankings...

10: One Community One Goal plan released

Miami-Dade’s economic development agency, the Beacon Council, spent more than a year drawing up what’s supposed to be a blueprint for the county’s economic future. We won’t know for years whether the One Community One Goal plan will actually guide leaders’ decisions as they decide on education priorities and corporate-recruitment targets. The authors of this report boasted that they were determined not to have the latest version seen as obsolete the way the 1996 version was. But with hundreds of people involved in the forums that led to the report, One Community One Goal is sure to be cited in debates and discussion about Miami-Dade’s economy for years to come.

9. Ryder gets a new CEO

It was a tumultuous year for the Miami-Dade trucking giant, which spent the summer backing off early predictions of strong recovery for clients. In July, Ryder CEO Gregory Swienton announced companywide cost cuts to combat flat sales in a year he had originally seen as going well. That move included 60 job cuts at Ryder’s headquarters in western Miami-Dade, out of 450 across the country The end of 2012 brought another big announcement: Swienton was retiring in two weeks, and handing over the top job to his longtime deputy, Ryder COO Robert Sanchez.

Swienton, 63, said he was looking forward to getting back to Texas, where most of his grandchildren live. The board praised Swienton’s 13-year tenure, which saw Ryder stock rise from $17 a share to $50 a share.

Sanchez, 47, is only the company’s fifth CEO since its founding in the Great Depression. A Miami native, he becomes one of only three CEOs of a Fortune 500 company headquartered south of Palm Beach County. The other: AutoNation’s Mike Jackson and World Fuel Services’ Michael Kasbar.

8. Miami Marlins Buyers Remorse

The debut season of Miami’s first official Major League Baseball team brought a string of disappointments on and off the field. Promises of a revitalized Little Havana retail scene around the tax-funded stadium instead brought vacant storefronts. Attendance, a big part of the economic argument for the $635 million stadium, ended up being the worst for a new ballpark in 30 years.

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For new year, resolve to commit random acts of kindness

Well, here we are, dear Friends and Neighbors, on the eve of another new year. So much happened to us in 2012 — some good and some bad. But through it all, by the grace of God, we made it to the end of the "old" year.

When I was a young woman, I made a new year’s resolution every year. The new year brings with it that kind of fresh-start magic.

To many of us, the new year really does mean having a second chance; a fresh start; a new beginning, another opportunity to do something that matters, to touch someone’s life in a positive way, and to do random acts of kindness.

I thought about the random-acts-of-kindness thing when, on Christmas day while in Washington, where my granddaughter Afra was appearing in My Fair Lady at the -Arena Stage Theater, I stumbled upon the perfect opportunity. Afra and I, and her mother Mary Anne, were on our way to have Christmas dinner with their longtime friends who live in Maryland. (A Radio City Music Hall Rockette since 2004, Afra had suffered with tendonitis in her right knee and decided to take this season off to let it heal.)

We got to the Metro station and found it practically empty. We headed for a bench where a man and woman were sitting and Afra motioned for me to take a seat. I spoke to the two individuals and wished them a Merry Christmas. A few minutes later, the woman who had been sitting on the bench moved away. She looked a bit uncomfortable. A few seconds later, I understood why. The young man seemed to be mentally challenged and needed to talk to someone about something that happened earlier at the facility where he lived.

Apparently there had been an argument with a caregiver at the facility, and he got upset and yelled at her. When I asked what was the matter, he started crying, "I yelled at her ... I didn’t mean to do it ... I was in a hurry to get to the station."

I touched his shoulder and tried to comfort him. "I’m sure she is not angry with you. She understood you were eager to get the train to spend Christmas with your mother." He stopped crying and told me his name was Gabriel. He asked my name. I told him and introduced him to my granddaughter and her mother, who were looking in disbelief at the two of us. Their eyes seemed to say, "Doesn’t Grandma know she is in a strange city and this man is a stranger who could be very dangerous?"

I did know. But somehow, this didn’t seem like a dangerous situation. Something in my heart said this was a chance to do a random act of kindness. I followed my heart. By the time our train came, Gabriel was smiling.

"I like you," he said. "You are a nice lady."

I reached out and offered a hug. He responded and soon my granddaughter and her mother were hugging him too. It was a wonderful feeling. Gabriel repeated our names over and over, pointing to each of us, so as not to forget them.

In a few minutes, we were at our stop. We said goodbye to our new friend and got off the train. We waved at him as the train pulled away. We didn’t say much about the incident, just smiled knowingly at each other. We knew we had just reached out to another soul who needed to be comforted and by doing so, we had spread a little Christmas cheer.

So, as I write this last column of 2012, I don’t have a list of new year resolutions. What I do have is a determination to live one day at a time, and try to live my life by reaching out to more Gabriels and offering comfort and spreading cheer and good will wherever I can. It may not be in the form of a hug. It just might be a warm smile, a "How do you do?", or "You look nice today". I learned from the Metro Station incident that it doesn’t take much to make somebody’s day. Just be kind. Make it a part of your everyday routine. No resolution is needed. Just do it.

And have a wonderful and healthy New Year!

Arts in the Gardens

Arts at St. Johns will kick off the New Year with the SALA Arts Social at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 15 at the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens, 2000 Convention Center Dr. SALA is an acronym for Social Action, Local Arts, and is a multi-disciplinary, multi-sensory arts event featuring music, dance, the visual arts, refreshments, drinks, interactive DJ music, networking and a silent auction.

The artists include Tiffany “Hanan” Madera performing Mid-Eastern dance; DJ Madame Turk, who will mix new and old dance club music and Afro/Latin and Brazilian beats.

The visual arts will include a group show by the Artist Colony, a Miami artist collaborative. There will also be a selection of paintings, graphics and assemblages donated for the silent auction by Carol Hoffman-Guzman and her husband Robert Guzman. Carol is the founding director of Arts at St. Johns. She and her husband have been collecting local and emerging artists for over 40 years.

The event celebrates 12 years of SALA presenting performances and art at Arts at St. Johns. According to Hoffman-Guzman, SALA’s name was chosen because it is reflects Arts at St. Johns’ vision to present local artists and art forms and t use the arts to build community, nurture dialogue about social issues and seek to bring about change through the arts.

Tickets to the event are $75 each at the door or online at www.artsatstjohns.com or by calling Hoffman-Guzman at 305-613-2325.

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Michigan Passes Law to Protect Social Media Accounts

Michigan passed a bill on Friday that prohibits employers and schools from asking employees and students for login information to their personal social media accounts.

House Bill 5523, signed by Governor Rick Snyder and introduced by state Rep. Aric Nesbitt, “prohibit[s] employers and educational institutions from requiring certain individuals to grant access to, allow observation of, or disclose information that allows access to or observation of personal internet accounts.”

[More from Mashable: An Epic Walk From Beijing to London Fueled by Social Media]

This means an employer or institution cannot require that you provide them with your username or passwords for sites like Facebook and Twitter. The bill is known as the “internet privacy protection act.”

“Potential employees and students should be judged on their skills and abilities, not private online activity,” Snyder said in a press release.

[More from Mashable: Facebook in 2013: More Growing Pains Ahead]

Michigan isn’t alone in adapting laws to the changing Internet social sphere.

Earlier this year, Delaware banned public and private schools from requiring students’ social media account information. The bill passed through the House in a unanimous vote. Months earlier, Maryland introduced a similar bill that would particularly benefit student athletes.

In September, California passed a law that barred companies from asking its workers to surrender their social media account passwords.

Will bills and acts similar to these become more commonplace in our local and national legislature? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

1. Alcohol Overload

You’re out of college, it’s not cool anymore – just ask your boss.

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Photo via iStockphoto, DNY59

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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Buzzmakers: Kate Winslet's Wedding and Rider Strong's Engaged

What had ET readers buzzing this week?

1. Kate Winslet Ties the Knot!

Kate Winslet recently married her boyfriend Ned Rocknroll in a small, secret ceremony in New York.

A rep for the 37-year-old Oscar winner tells ET, "I can confirm that Kate Winslet married Ned Rock'nRoll in NY earlier this month in a private ceremony attended by her two children and a very few friends and family." The rep added that Kate and Ned got engaged over the summer.

British newspapers reported that Kate's Titanic co-star Leonardo DiCaprio gave away the bride in a ceremony so secret that not even the parents of the bride and groom were aware of it.

It is the third marriage for Kate, who split from film director Sam Mendes, the father of her son, in March 2011. She was also previously married for three years to Jim Threapleton, the father of her daughter, before splitting with him in 2001.

Ned, 34, is the nephew of British media/aerospace magnate Sir Richard Branson.

2. 'Boy Meets World' Star Rider Strong Engaged

Amid the holiday engagement rumors (Brandy, Janet Jackson...), Boy Meets World star Rider Strong confirms that he popped the question to his longtime love Alexandra Barreto -- but that's not the crazy part.

Strong, 33, told E! News that he asked Barreto to marry him with "a handmade ring he created himself!"

The actors met on set of the 2006 series Pepper Dennis, and the rest is history. "I asked on December 23, while her parents were visiting for the holidays. I took her for a walk under the redwoods on the property where I grew up in Northern California," Strong tells ETonline. "It was pouring rain, but it didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon, so I just decided to go for it."

Meanwhile, TheInsider.com confirmed earlier this past November that Strong will not be joining the cast of Disney's Girl Meets World, a spin-off of his wildly popular teen show Boy Meets World. "Girl Meets World will be, and I think it should be, its own show. It will be about Cory and Topanga, their daughter, and a new set of characters. It's the next generation."

3. 'Glee' Creator is A New Dad!

Ryan Murphy had a very merry announcement this holiday season: he's a father!

According to E! News, Murphy and partner David Miller welcomed a son into their family recently, with the couple announcing their new addition on Christmas Eve to friends and family via email.

The announcement revealed the boy, named Logan Phineas Miller Murphy, was born December 24, 2012 9:47 a.m.

Earlier this year, Murphy opened up to Vogue about his desire to become a father. "I thought if I don't do this ... I'm 46 ... I will really, really regret it," he said, adding, "I want the kid to be bold."

4. Jessica Simpson Confirms She's Pregnant, Again!

After weeks of speculation, Jessica Simpson has confirmed that she is pregnant with her second child!

This morning she Tweeted, "Merry Christmas from my family to yours," along with a photo of daughter Maxwell sitting above a message written in the sand. It read: "Big Sis."

Simpson, who gave birth to Maxwell on May 1, has been spotted wearing lots of loose clothing in recent weeks as rumors swirled that she was pregnant again.

This will be the second child for Simpson and her fiance, Eric Johnson.

5. Lady Gaga Announces Documentary

The nearly 33 million Little Monsters who follow Lady Gaga on Twitter got a massive Christmas present this morning as the singer revealed she'll soon be coming to a theater near you!

"Merry Christmas little monsters," Gaga wrote. "Terry Richardson is making a #LadyGagaMOVIE documenting my life, the creation of ARTPOP + you!" "Thank you for being so patient waiting for my new album ARTPOP I hope this gets u excited for things to come. I love you with all my heart!" Gaga announced her fourth album on August 6, 2012 and featured several of the songs in contention for inclusion on her recent Born This Wall Ball. Although no release date is yet known, it's rumored to be due out in Spring 2013.

Gaga has previously collaborated with Richardson on countless magazine covers and 2011's Lady Gaga x Terry Richardson photobook.

Lady Gaga won't be the only major musician to be featured in a documentary next year. It was revealed on November 26 that HBO would be airing a Beyonce documentary on February 16, 2013.

The film promises extensive first-person footage -- some of it shot by Beyonce on her laptop -- in which she reflects on the realities of being a celebrity, the refuge she finds onstage and the joys of becoming a mother after giving birth to her daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, in January 2012. Watch a sneak peek below.

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Mad push a 9/11 ‘revenge’

The crazed woman who shoved a Queens immigrant to his gruesome death in front of a subway train told cops yesterday that she did so because she thought he was a Muslim, authorities said.

Erika Menendez, 31, was charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime after admitting to investigators that she pushed Sunando Sen, 46 — a Hindu — in front of a 7 train in Sunnyside on Thursday night, officials said.

She allegedly said she singled him out because of his religion.

“She is accused of committing a subway commuter’s worst nightmare — suddenly and senselessly pushed into the path of an oncoming train, shoved from behind with no chance to defend himself,” said Queens DA Richard Brown.

Michael Hicks

THE SUSPECT: Detectives lead a ranting Erika Menendez from the 112th Precinct station house in Queens last night. A tip from someone who recognized her in Brooklyn led police to apprehend her.

Seth Gottfried

TRAGEDY: Busted suspect Erika Menendez allegedly told cops yesterday that hatred of Muslims over the 9/11 attacks led her to shove Sunando Sen — a Hindu — in front of a 7 train at this Queens station. Someone who answered the phone at her home said she’s bipolar.

“She told police that she pushed a Muslim off the train tracks. She said, ‘I’ve hated Hindus and Muslims since 2001, since they put down the Twin Towers. I have been beating them up since.’ ”

There were no Hindus involved in the 9/11 attacks.

Menendez faces 25 years to life in prison if found guilty.

She looked wild as she was escorted from the 112th Precinct station house.

She wailed incoherently, contorted her face into what looked like a fiendish grin, and struggled as officers forced her into an unmarked car.

She appeared equally unhinged later during her arraignment hearing in Queens Criminal Court. Menendez was laughing so hard that she was visibly shaking as Assistant District Attorney Michelle Kaszuba read the charges against her.

“You’re going to have to have your client stop laughing,” Judge Gia Morris said, scolding Menendez’s lawyer. Despite this admonishment, Menendez laughed several more times at the hearing. She’ll undergo a psychiatric test today.

Menendez was nabbed after a Brooklyn tipster had called in after recognizing her on the street from surveillance video circulated by the NYPD, sources said.

Officers from the 71st Precinct busted her in Crown Heights after spotting her wearing the same jacket seen in a surveillance video recorded near the crime scene.

Menendez was picked up at about 5 a.m. on Empire Boulevard and Bedford Avenue, the sources said. She continued mumbling in coherently as investigators questioned her — and at one point asked where the R train was, the sources added.

She was interrogated yesterday at the same Forest Hills, Queens, station house. She initially denied being at the subway station at the time of the fatal push, telling cops she was smoking pot with a pal. She later admitted committing the attack, telling cops “I’ll just plead guilty,” a prosecutor said at the arraignment hearing.

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Week brings startup launches, social media advice for 2013

Jared Kleinert, a South Florida entrepreneur, plans to soon launch Synergist, a platform that allow social entrepreneurs to meet potential co-founders online, collaborate and crowdfund their new projects. He also just launched AliveNDead, a blog about risk-taking, and he interns for a Silicon Valley startup.

And when he’s not doing all that, he’s going to class — he’s a junior at Spanish River High School in Boca Raton.

Lester Mapp is CEO and founder of the new Miami-based startup called designed by m. His team has just designed a sleek, ultra-thin aluminum iPhone bumper and launched the project on Kickstarter. After just a few days, Mapp is already more than a third of the way to his $20,000 fund-raising goal.

Read about both these entrepreneurs on The Starting Gate blog, where there’s also a post on the most pressing issues facing small businesses in the coming year — taxes, healthcare, lending and a skilled worker shortage, for starters.

And as you are ringing in the New Year, you may be resolving to beef up your business’ social media strategy. Susan Linning's guest post offers five top tips for boosting your social media effectiveness. Among them: Go beyond retweets and make your posts original, fun and personal (but not too personal.) Use visuals, too. Find this and other news, views and tools for entrepreneurs on the blog, which is at the bottom of MiamiHerald.com /business.

Follow me on Twitter @ndahlberg and Happy New Year to all.

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Former Miami Beach resident may be next Israeli ambassador to U.S.

Ron Dermer, a top adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and who has family ties to two former Miami Beach mayors, may soon become the next Israeli ambassador to the United States, according to reports in an Israeli newspaper.

The daily Makor Rishon reported late Friday that the current ambassador, Michael Oren, plans to step down from his post in the spring of 2013 and would be replaced by Dermer.

Dermer was nicknamed “Bibi’s Brain’’ in a 2011 Tablet profile that compared his relationship with Netanyahu to that of Karl Rove and former President George W. Bush.

Dermer, a Florida-born conservative, reportedly planned Republican Mitt Romney’s trip to Israel last summer during the U.S. presidential campaign.

He has been Netanyahu’s senior adviser since 2009.

The Prime Minister’s Bureau and the Prime Minister’s Office declined comment on the newspaper’s report, according to Israeli media.

Family members in Miami Beach contacted by The Miami Herald also declined to comment.

Dermer is the brother of former Miami Beach Mayor David Dermer, whose first campaign he managed, and the son of former mayor Jay Dermer.

His father was a mayor in the 1960’s and his older brother David was mayor from 2001-2007.

Just two weeks before Ron’s bar mitzvah, his father died of a heart attack. Growing up in Miami Beach, he attended a Jewish day school.

Ron Dermer and his younger sister Esther moved to Israel in the late ’90s after completing their studies. He earned a degree in finance and management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University.

For three years, he wrote a column for the Jerusalem Post and, along with former Soviet dissident and Israeli politician Natan Sharansky, co-authored the book, “The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror.’’

He and his wife Rhonda have three children: Mayor, Zev and Ezra.

Dermer had to give up his U.S. citizenship in 2005 when he was appointed Minister for Economic Affairs to the Israeli Embassy.

In a 2011 interview with The Tablet, Dermer said he still thinks of himself as an American.

“When I think about Israel, I always ask myself, I call it the WWAD question: ‘What would America do?’”

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Twitter Fans Marvel at Stan Lee’s 90th Birthday

William Shatner

Another legend of nerd culture, Shatner was one of the first on Twitter to wish Lee a happy birthday.

Click here to view this gallery.

[More from Mashable: What to Do With Your New Android]

Comics icon Stan Lee celebrated his 90th birthday Friday, inspiring a flood of congratulations on Twitter, where he posts as @TheRealStanLee. Fans, celebrities, colleagues and even a few superheroes sent their love to Marvel Comics’ “Generalissimo,” and Lee’s trademark catchphrase, “Excelsior,” got the hashtag treatment.

This was a busy year for Lee: The legendary co-creator of classic characters like the X-Men, Iron Man and the Hulk launched a YouTube channel, Stan Lee’s World of Heroes, this summer. He also hosted his own comic convention, Comikaze, in September. This year also marked the 50th birthday of perhaps Lee’s most famous creation: the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

[More from Mashable: Airbnb’s Quest to Make Traveling Less Touristy]

Mashable talked with Stan “The Man” twice this year about his ongoing web projects: once at the launch of his YouTube channel, and again at New York Comic-Con. Check out the gallery above to see who else was talking about Lee on his big day.

Can you remember all of Lee’s cameos in Marvel movies? Who is your favorite superhero or heroine? Let us know in the comments section below.

Thumbnail image courtesy of Flickr, Gage Skidmore

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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Jean Harris, killer of Scarsdale Diet doctor Herman Tarnower, dies at 89

She was the ultimate woman scorned — and her murder of the “Scarsdale Diet” author captivated the nation.

Former girls-school headmistress Jean Harris drew both ire and sympathy for gunning down her two-timing lover as revenge for his affair with a much younger office assistant.

She served 12 years in prison for the 1980 slaying and later became a motivational figure who raised millions for the children of female inmates.

On Sunday, Harris died at her assisted-living home in Connecticut at the age of 89, her son, Jim, told The Post.

Harris never admitted she intentionally shot her cardiologist boyfriend Dr. Herman Tarnower, founder of “The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet.”

AP

SCANDAL:Jean Harris — in court in 1981 — became a sensation in The Post after murdering her beau, Scarsdale Diet creator Dr. Herman Tarnower.

Though she shot him four times, Harris always claimed she just wanted to confront him over the affair and kill herself in his presence at his estate in Purchase.

She would later say she was “certainly guilty of something. I caused the man’s death.”

Harris’ case became a cause célèbre for feminists, who saw her as a victim of a sexist culture that discarded women as they aged.

“In Westchester, I always felt I was a woman in a pretty dress that went to dinner parties with Dr. Tarnower,” she testified. “In Washington, I was a woman in a pretty dress and a headmistress. I wasn’t sure who I was, and it didn’t seem to matter.”

Harris grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, where she attended school and later married industrialist James Harris, with whom she had two sons.

They divorced in 1966. A few months later, the 43-year-old met Tarnower at a Park Avenue party, and they began a 14-year relationship.

She moved to New York and worked in sales administration but relocated in 1977 to McLean, Va., to become headmistress of the Madeira School for Girls.

Harris rode the train to Tarnower’s home every weekend and spent holidays with him.

But he was never faithful, and Harris in 1980 was driven mad by his affections for his 37-year-old office assistant, Lynne Tryforos.

“You keep me in control by threatening me with banishment — an easy threat which you know I couldn’t live with — and so I stay home alone while you make love to someone who has almost totally destroyed me,” she wrote in a famous 11-page “Scarsdale letter” used as key evidence against her during the 62-day trial.

Harris wrote that he had betrayed her and that she was considering plastic surgery to win him back from Tryforos, whom she blasted as “a vicious, adulterous psychotic.”

Harris sent the letter to Tarnower less than 24 hours before the murder — and he was dead before he could ever read it.

Her defense maintained that jealousy was not a factor, and she refused to plead guilty to a lesser charge.

Jurors didn’t buy her story and found her arrogant and jealous.

Harris later said she wouldn’t even have taken the stand had her lawyer told her to “keep quiet.”

The jury convicted her after eight days of deliberation — and she was sentenced to 15 years to life.

The sensational case inspired two TV movies, “The People vs. Jean Harris,” which aired soon after her 1981 conviction, and HBO’s 2006 movie “Mrs. Harris.”

She wrote a book in prison in 1986 called “A Stranger in Two Worlds” and used the profits to set up a charity to fund education for incarcerated women.

Harris also suffered two heart attacks and underwent bypass surgery behind bars.

Then-Gov. Mario Cuomo granted her clemency 20 years ago this week.

“I only got clemency because I had some publicity and the governor thought I was going to die on the operating table,” she told The Post in 1997 from the Monroe, NH, cabin where she lived after her release.

She continued to run the charity but closed it down a couple of years ago.

dmacleod@nypost.com

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Resources for South Florida small businesses

•  Florida Small Business Development Centers. Counseling and training at centers in South Florida and around the state, www.floridasbdc.org.

•  SCORE Workshops, online training and free coaching at local branches, www.score.org, miamidade.score.org, browardscore.org, southbroward.score.org

• Florida Women’s Business Center. Provides training, mentoring and resources to women entrepreneurs, http://www.flwbc.org.

• The Commonwealth Institute. Helps women entrepreneurs, CEOs and corporate executives build businesses through peer mentoring programs and annually honors top women-led businesses in Florida, www.commonwealthinstitute.org.

The Hispanic Business Initiative Fund of Florida. Nonprofit, with a Miami office, provides free bilingual seminars, workshops and technical assistance to Hispanic entrepreneurs launching or expanding businesses in Florida. www.HBIFflorida.org.

•  Barry University, Barry Institute for Community and Economic Development. Counseling, workshops and training for Miami-Dade small businesses through the Entrepreneurial Institute, www.barry.edu/biced.

•  Broward College. Offers a 24-credit entrepreneurship certificate, www.broward.edu. For noncredit business courses, including training through its Entrepreneurial Institute, http://www.broward.edu/ce.

•  Florida International University, Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center. Workshops, webinars and more, entrepreneurship.fiu.edu.

•  Miami Dade College. Offers a 12-credit entrepreneurship certificate program, www.mdc.edu/business. For noncredit classes, www.mdc.edu/ce. The Meek Entrepreneurial Education Center offers many programs, www.mdc.edu/north/eec.

•  University of Miami, The Launch Pad. Workshops, networking, resources and coaching, www.thelaunchpad.org.

•  Southern Florida Minority Supplier Development Council. Connects large businesses with minority businesses across South Florida, www.sfmsdc.org.

•  Startup Florida. Programs and training, plus register your company in this Startup America initiative, www.startupfl.org.

•  Partners for Self-Employment. Offers training, technical assistance and loans in Miami-Dade and Broward. www.partnersforselfemployment.com

•  Miami Bayside Foundation. Provides loans of $10,000 to $50,000 to minority-owned businesses in the city of Miami. www.miamibaysidefoundation.org..

•  MetroBroward. Nonprofit offers financing, incubation and training for businesses in low- to moderate-income areas of Broward, www.metrobroward.org.

• ACCION USA. Provides microloans up to $50,000 and financial education, with South Florida offices and programs, www.accionusa.org.

ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solutions. Nonprofit offers one-on-one, over the phone or Internet credit counseling to entrepreneurs and consumers with poor credit. 305-463-6739, ext 1019 or www.clearpointccs.org .

•  Incubate Miami. Start-up businesses in technology can get mentorship, office space and now early-stage funding, www.incubatemiami.com.

• The Technology Business Incubator at the Research Park at Florida Atlantic University. Offers mentors, investor connections and business services, http://www.research-park.org

•  South Florida Urban Ministries’ ASSETS Business Development. Nonprofit offers small business development program including one-on-one business coaching and consulting in areas of start-up, marketing, finance and more, www.sflum.org.

• United Way Center for Financial Stability. Center offers a wide array of tools and resources to help families and individuals achieve financial independence. www.unitedwaymiami.org/WhatWeDo/CFS.

•  The Startup Forum. Organization’s mission is to foster the development of vibrant regional startup communities, www.startupforum.net.

•  StartupDigest. Begun in Silicon Valley as a place to find events for entrepreneurs, this has spread to other cities, including Miami, www.startupdigest.com

If your organization should be on this list, email ndahlberg@miamiherald.com

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