Some leaders chase recognition. Trina Harris just keeps showing up for Overtown—and the recognition keeps finding her anyway.
Last month, CBS News Miami featured Touching Miami with Love in a segment highlighting the transformative work the organization has been doing in Overtown and West Homestead for nearly three decades. And just recently, Harris was named to Miami Fellows Class XII, The Miami Foundation’s flagship leadership program that identifies the most visionary civic leaders shaping Greater Miami’s future.
For those of us who know Trina’s work, none of this is surprising. What’s surprising is that it took this long for the rest of Miami to catch up.
Nearly 30 Years of Real Impact
Touching Miami with Love has been serving the needs of people in Overtown and West Homestead for nearly 30 years, serving nearly 400 students every weekday and during the summer through holistic year-round programs CBS News. But numbers only tell part of the story.
As Trina explained to CBS News, the goal is to guide children and youth spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally and reduce the cycles of poverty by providing opportunities for economic mobility CBS News. That’s not just nonprofit language—it’s a philosophy you can see playing out in real time when you walk through their doors.
They’re teaching young people how to be self-sufficient and learning the skills of business development, providing real-life experiences that develop critical thinking skills CBS News that matter just as much in real life as they do in the classroom.
Joining Miami’s Leadership Table
The Miami Fellows program isn’t for just anyone. It looks for values-driven professionals 45 and under who are actively shaping a more just, connected, and thriving Greater Miami through their leadership across sectors and communities miamifellows. Fellows explore the intersecting systems shaping Miami’s education, equity, environment, and economy while practicing bold, collaborative leadership.
Trina Harris—listed as Ultrina Harris, CEO of Touching Miami with Love and owner of The Shops of Overtown—is joining a cohort of 18 leaders representing healthcare, education, philanthropy, policy, and community organizing. It’s a powerful network, and Trina belongs there.
The selection comes at a pivotal moment. As one of the founding leaders of OVRTWN Corner and a longtime advocate for community-led economic development, Trina is helping shape what Overtown’s next chapter will look like. Now, through Miami Fellows, she’ll have access to advanced leadership development, executive mentorship, and deeper engagement with the systems and stakeholders shaping Greater Miami’s future.
A Labor of Love
When CBS News asked Trina what drives her, her answer was simple and profound: “Being able to share the love of Christ by building relationships, being in community, that is my joy. That is the heart of what we do here at Touching Miami with Love.” CBS News
That’s the thing about Trina—she’s never doing this work for the headlines or the accolades. She’s doing it because she believes in Overtown’s people, in their potential, and in the power of community to break cycles and build futures.
The CBS feature and the Miami Fellows selection are just the world finally paying attention to what Overtown has known all along: Trina Harris is one of our most essential leaders, and the work she’s building will outlast all of us.
More Than a Moment
What makes this recognition meaningful isn’t just that Trina is getting her flowers—though she deserves every single one. It’s that these platforms amplify the work itself. When CBS News tells Touching Miami With Love’s story, more people understand what’s possible when you invest in community the right way. When The Miami Foundation names Trina a fellow, it signals to funders, policymakers, and civic leaders that this model matters.
And it does matter. Because at the end of the day, Touching Miami with Love isn’t just touching Miami—it’s transforming it, one young person, one family, one dream at a time.
Congratulations, Trina. Keep doing what you do. We’re watching, we’re proud, and we’re right here with you.
To learn more about Touching Miami with Love or support their work, visit touchingmiamiwithlove.org. Miami Fellows Class XII begins their leadership journey this year through The Miami Foundation’s flagship civic leadership program.
