alvin-roberts_web.jpgALLAPATTAH — The head of a Miami-Dade Community Action Agency group is pursuing a commitment to tackle crime in his community and make it a better place for residents.


Alvin W. Roberts, chairman of the Community Advisory Committee of the CAC’s Self Help Division, is working with law enforcement to achieve his objectives.

Roberts is serving a fourth term as head of the Allapattah CAC. He was instrumental in starting a Neighborhood Crime Watch during 2007 that a CAC statement said has significantly reduced crime in the area. 

Roberts works with city of Miami and Miami-Dade County government Agencies to rid the community of abandoned houses and buildings and to have better bus benches installed in the area.

The committee is also focusing on education and this year it provided three scholarships to high school seniors living in the Allapattah area who plan to attend college or a vocational school. For 2011, Roberts plans to double the number to six and name the program the Betty Wiggs Scholarship to honor the contributions of a former CAC committee member  who died in 2009.

Roberts has been working for 31 years as a lead medical support assistant with the Miami VA Healthcare Systems and was honored this year as South Florida Federal Employee of the Year in the category of Service to the Community.

Besides his volunteer role as chairman of the Allapattah CAC, he is also president of the board of directors of the Center for Independent Living of South Florida and first vice president and state delegate of Vietnam Veterans of America, Miami-Dade Chapter No.620.

A U.S. Marine combat veteran, Roberts is also chairman for Veterans Minority Affairs of the Florida State Council, Region 4, and was named the 2009 National Vietnam Veteran of the Year for service to the community. 

The CAA’s Citizen Participation Program is an initiative administered under the direction of the Self Help Division, and provides a "bottoms-up approach" that incorporates the ideas and input of the residents in target areas through Community Advisory Committees such as the one Roberts heads.

These committees are used to foster and sustain civic engagement in the communities, including  South Beach, Culmer, Liberty City, Brownsville, Edison, Wynwood,  Hialeah, Opa-locka, Coconut Grove, South Miami, Florida City, Naranja, Perrine and Goulds.  Advisory Committee meetings are held monthly in each community.


For more information on the Citizen Participation Program and becoming a member of a Community Advisory Committee, call the CAA at 786-469-4640 or visit miamidade.gov/caa.

Photo: Alvin W. Roberts