Scholarship recipients, Rick Ross celebrated at 5000 Role Models MLK Day breakfast

Hundreds of well-dressed Black and brown people chattered excitedly as they walked into the Miami Beach Convention Center’s Grand Ballroom Monday morning for the 5000 Role Models’ 31st Annual Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. Scholarship Breakfast.

The Martin Luther King Day Jr. event honors role models and scholarship recipients of the organization founded by U.S. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson. Dressed in a shiny red cowboy hat and a red outfit to represent 5000 Role Models’ primary color, the former educator was impossible to miss.

“My colleagues in Congress call me the Mary McCloud Bethune of today because of my love for children,” she said in reference to the Black educator and philanthropist. “If every boy could be in the 5000 Role Models of Excellence project, it would change the timbre of this nation. We could interrupt the school-to-prison pipeline and wipe out the prison-industrial complex.”

Miami Gardens native Rick Ross and past honoree and actor Omari Hardwick were joined at the event by elected officials like Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.

“I knew that we were coming together because of the phenomenal work of Congresswoman Frederica Wilson and what she has done to carry forth the legacy, the commitment and the promise of Dr. King,” said Levine Cava.

During the event, 30 mentors presented 50 different Wilson scholarship recipients with medallions. All 50 recipients are college bound and got a hug from their mentors. Afterward, all of the attendees stood and gave the recipients a standing ovation.

Ross was honored at the breakfast and introduced by Hardwick. Ross received The Key to the City of Miami from Mayor Francis Suarez before speaking at the podium and remembered being a boy in Carol City following Wilson’s work.

“It means so much for me to be here,” said Ross, who had taken a red-eye flight from Houston to Miami so that he could be present for the 8:30 a.m. event. “Everywhere we went, we saw her name before we saw her face. As I got older, as a boss, I understand what the youngsters want to see and want to achieve. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be successful. These are your brothers and sisters in this room.”

Wilson also announced at the breakfast that 5000 Role Models will be expanding to the Gulf Coast via Louisiana and Alabama and West Coast in 2024. Beginning this year, the Baton Rouge School District, Birmingham City Schools and Los Angeles Unified School District will have 5000 Role Models programming. In September 2023, 5000 Role Models announced expansion to the Bahamas that will begin in September 2024 with more than 50 students.

Since 1993, Wilson has led 5000 Role Models as a way of supporting local youth of color with mentorship and ways to build positive, productive lifestyles. Three-time NBA champion Udonis Haslem and Academy Award-winning director Barry Jenkins are among the organization’s alumni.