A dream worth looking at: 2 Black entrepreneurs envision a new residential/mixed use community | Opinion

It does my heart good to learn of Black people who want to make changes in our community for the good of everyone. Melvin Bratton and Audrey James are those kinds of people. Together the two of them have come up with a dream so big and so beautiful that to some, it would seem almost impossible.

Their dream is called the Poinciana Project — a new community where there will be housing, jobs, a marketplace with an upscale indoor food area with foods from different cultures — Bahamian, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Black soul food and Haitian cuisine. There will also be a trade school, various shops and beauty salons, barbershops, a supermarket and gas stations, to name a few.

And Bratton and James say their dream is within reach.

“It’s do-able,” said Bratton, founder of the Zenith Developers Group, because we have the finances in place — $300 million — and I have formed a partnership with Ms. James, who is founder of the Luther James Cox Community Development Corporation, a 501c3 Domestic CDC, which will enable her to be a lender to all the businesses that will be a part of the project. She is one of only five people in Florida, and the only minority female, to hold a 501c3 Domestic CDC,” Bratton said.

Unlikely business partners

Both Bratton and James came from humble backgrounds. Both grew up in the Liberty Square Housing project at different times, and both are graduates of Northwestern High School — James in 1977 and Bratton in 1983. Yet, they are the two most unlikely business partners you would ever meet.

Audrey Cox James was born in Lois, South Carolina, to Luther James Cox and Irene Drayton. They moved to Miami during World War II, looking for a better life and settled in the Liberty Square Housing Project. Her dad was among the brave soldiers who invaded Normandy on June 6, 1944.

After graduating from Miami Northwestern High school, James went to work for the Department of Children and Family Services in 1978. She retired in 2005 as a Behavior Supervisor Specialist II. In her retirement, James became an advocate for Black WWII veterans. She said it is her way of wanting to keep her dad’s legacy alive and also a way to help Black WWII veterans who seemed overlooked by the country they served.

“I put food in my car and drive to the homes of veterans to make sure they have food to eat,” James said. “It’s what my dad wanted me to do.”

It was because of James’ efforts that her father was awarded the Gold Seal posthumously in 2008 by President George Bush.

One of the veterans she served was the late Charles Adderley, who when he died was Miami’s oldest WWII veteran. It was raining the day she stopped to bring him a food package. “As I stood in the doorway, I detected a moldy smell. When I looked inside, it was actually raining in his house. I promised him I would get him some help.”

And she did. Eventually Adderley’s entire house was remodeled and he became somewhat of a celebrity, appearing on several national television shows before he died in 2019.

Bratton, who teamed with James about nine months ago, was a star athlete at Miami Northwestern High School where he was a football running back and was a state champion in 120 hurdles. He is in Florida’s High School Track Hall of Fame, and is in the University of Miami’s Football Hall of Fame.

At the University of Miami, Bratton was injured during the university’s last game of the season, which was the national championship game in 1988 against Oklahoma. Even so, the Miami Dolphins took a chance on him and drafted him in the sixth round, even with his injured knee.

“I didn’t sign with the Dolphins, but went back in the draft the next year and was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the seventh round. In 1989, Bratton started with the Broncos as a rookie in the Super Bowl. He played two years with the Broncos before retiring in 1991 because of his knee injury.

Growing-up days

Since his retirement from the NFL Bratton calls both Miami and Atlanta home. The divorced father of three, said he doesn’t have time to waste.

“Whenever I hear of young Black boys getting on the wrong side of the law, I think, ‘They are me.’ I lived in the Liberty Square Housing Project, but I spent a lot of time at the James E. Scott Project in the Poinciana area, where my dad Melvin L. Bratton, a former Miami Gardens Commissioner, grew up. I had lots of relatives there and my uncle Moses (Pee Wee) Bratton, taught me how to play football. Back then, my uncle Pee Wee started a project league, and we played against kids in various projects,” Bratton said.

“I remember starting my sports career at Poinciana/Gwen Cherry Park. Back then, various college recruiters came to the park to watch me practice and run track. I have always been so grateful for what I learned and was given at the park, that right after I was drafted by the Broncos, I came back to the park and held my first NFL Football Camp there. Church’s Chicken Restaurant was our sponsor, and I had celebrities like Barry Sanders and Steve Atwater, both of whom are now Football Hall of Famers, come to help me encourage the youngsters.

“That was quite a time. It seems I fed the entire project that day,” he said with a laugh. “My purpose was to show the children in the neighborhood that if I could make something out of myself, they could too.”

Challenges ahead for plan

Bratton, who has a degree in business management from the University of Miami, is also an NFL/NBA sports agent. He started the Zenith Developers Group in 2020, with the mission of developing the area of Poinciana Park.

“This is very important to me because Poinciana/Gwen Cherry Park is where I started my career in sports,” he said. “The Poinciana Project is estimated at $300 million and we have the funding in place. I have partnered with Ms. James and the Luther James Cox CDC, and if we are blessed to develop this project, not only would we be providing 1,500 jobs, but we will give 20 percent of all revenue back to Miami-Dade County.”

“We just want the opportunity to present our comprehensive plan to the Miami-Dade County mayor and Commission. I want them to see that a person who grew up in Poinciana Park can come back and make a difference — build a better neighborhood. It is wonderful to be in the Football Hall at the University of Miami, but for me, it would be much better to be in my neighborhood’s Hall of Fame.”

Bratton said he and James are hoping to get on the Commission’s agenda in the next few months to present their comprehensive plan for the Poinciana Project.

It is a plan worth taking a look at.