Touching Miami with Love
Almost any Miami resident knows Overtown's reputation before even stepping a foot on its streets. It is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Miami, if not the poorest, and is often simply described as the ghetto. The non-profit organization, Touching Miami with Love (TML) is located firmly in the center of Overtown and is dedicated to providing a safe place for children and youth growing up in this neighborhood. I spent several months last fall visiting their facilities to take pictures that could be freely used by the non-profit in any of their media, newsletters or social media, so that they could spend their resources directly on the children.
The children in these photos have grown up surrounded by the violence, homelessness , drugs and poverty that are a daily part of Overtown. They've been forced to grow up faster and develop a more realistic, harsher perspective on life than most children their ages. However, despite all that, they refuse to condemn the neighborhood, like so many outsiders, and choose to see it as a place that has bad, but, more importantly, also has good.