Charity under scrutiny calls its work for Miami-Dade County an ‘overwhelming success’

The charitable foundation behind a Miami-Dade rodeo broke more than a week of silence on Tuesday to push back against questions about how it has spent taxpayer funds, declaring its work for the county “an overwhelming success to date.”

Records show the A3 Foundation has received nearly $1 million in county funds for its work with the CountryFest rodeo at Tropical Park, an annual event put on by county vendor Loud and Live, which recently won a 20-year Parks contract to host ticketed events at the park. The agreement, approved by county commissioners earlier this month, requires Loud and Live to make $5 million in payments to A3 over the course of the contract.

After the Miami Herald published a series of stories examining payments to the foundation, a lawyer for A3 on Tuesday sent a statement that defended the nonprofit but did not provide details on the charity’s spending or fill in any of the other missing details about the politically connected nonprofit that within the last two months also secured nearly $1 million in state funds.

The lawyer’s statement did explain the foundation’s name, saying it stands for “Agriculture Awareness Advocacy,” addressing speculation that A3 was a reference to the first initials of the three children of Commission Chair Anthony Rodriguez, the Miami-Dade commissioner behind the charity’s county funding.

“The A3 Foundation (Agricultural Awareness Advocacy) is committed to its mission of increasing awareness of agricultural principles and promoting educational initiatives, particularly with our youth,” read the statement from A3 lawyer John Priovolos. “A3’s partnership with Miami-Dade County has been an overwhelming success to date.”

The charity formed in late 2023 has no public track record of philanthropy and is led by Francisco Petrirena, chief of staff to Miami City Manager Art Noriega. A recent series of Herald articles raised questions about how A3 has had such success securing money from the county and the state.

County records show Rodriguez used A3 as the clearinghouse for county dollars allocated for CountryFest, his commission district’s signature event.

Over the last two years, Miami-Dade issued about $1.2 million in checks for the A3 Foundation. While Miami-Dade has not provided an accounting for all checks, records released to the Herald show the money went to CountryFest, a county event. County records released last week also show some checks remain uncashed, meaning A3 has received a little less than $1 million in taxpayer funds.

“A3 has been and will continue to be fully compliant with its legal obligations,” Priovolos said in the statement. “A3 continues to serve the community according to its mission, and intends to continue working and cooperating with Miami-Dade County accordingly.”

Recent weeks saw A3 poised to get even more money from County Hall and from Tallahassee.

On July 16, Miami-Dade commissioners approved a 20-year contract allowing Loud and Live, a Doral events company, to run ticketed events at Tropical Park’s equestrian center, the home of CountryFest and other festivals.

That contract included a provision requiring Loud and Live to pay the A3 Foundation $250,000 a year over the life of the contract, for a total of $5 million through 2045. County records show Loud and Live orchestrated the bulk of the CountryFest event and was paid by A3 instead of receiving its fees directly from the Parks Department.

After the contract vote prompted the Herald articles on A3, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said she wouldn’t sign a contract requiring Loud and Live to make the payouts to the charity.

Over the weekend, she also announced plans to have county staff audit the foundation. That plan got blocked Monday by the county’s elected clerk and comptroller, Juan Fernandez-Barquin, who took over Miami-Dade’s auditing arm in January under a state-mandated reorganization of government and said the mayor no longer has auditing authority. He said it would be his staff that would be auditing the funding for A3 and other county-funded charities.

Roughly two weeks before the County Commission voted on the Loud and Live contract, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a 2026 budget for Florida that included $950,000 for A3, which applied for state dollars to pay administrative expenses and for materials and scholarships related to agricultural education.

While A3 Foundation requested $500,000, it received an additional $450,000 from a pool of state dollars controlled by House Speaker Danny Perez, a Miami Republican who is friends with Petrirena. Perez told the Herald he backed the charity because of A3’s plans to bring agricultural education to Miami-Dade residents with developmental disabilities.

In his only interview with the Herald, Petrirena said earlier this month that he was earning $80,000 this year for his work with the A3 Foundation.

For now, there is no public record of charitable work by the A3 Foundation. Its website has non-working links for the Sustainable Agriculture and Education programs listed under its “Making a Difference” page. Petrirena has not responded to interview requests after his brief telephone call with the Herald on July 18.

Rodriguez has not elaborated on the charity’s spending beyond describing A3 as “an ag-focused nonprofit organization that, while new, has served our community well.”

Here is the full statement from the A3 Foundation’s lawyer:

The A3 Foundation (Agricultural Awareness Advocacy) is committed to its mission of increasing awareness of agricultural principles and promoting educational initiatives, particularly with our youth. Since its inception, A3 has helped organize and support the Miami-Dade CountryFest in 2024 and 2025, among other events. A3’s partnership with Miami-Dade County has been an overwhelming success to date. Any suggestion that A3 acted inappropriately regarding CountryFest or funding for Loud and Live is simply not the case. A3 has been and will continue to be fully compliant with its legal obligations. A3 continues to serve the community according to its mission, and intends to continue working and cooperating with Miami-Dade County accordingly.

This story was originally published July 30, 2025 at 5:00 AM.