Community

HEAT Academy

Through its flagship community affairs initiative, HEAT Academy, the Miami HEAT has embraced the importance of providing children in South Florida with the opportunity to have a quality after-school program with an academic purpose at its core. The HEAT Academy is presented by Carnival Foundation and supported by Florida Blue. The funding for the program accounts for teacher wages, materials & supplies and any special activities planned throughout the course of the year. The HEAT Academy's primary goal is to provide economically disadvantaged students who are most at risk of academic failure or juvenile delinquency with a program of after-school tutoring and academic enrichment. The program is dedicated to strengthening the students' reading, writing, math and science skills so that they are able to increase their potential for success on the statewide assessment exam and compete on a national level.

Through a collaborative partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools and the HEAT Group corporate partners, the Miami HEAT has teamed up to facilitate HEAT Academy at three local inner-city schools:

• Paul Laurence Dunbar K-8 Center (Overtown)
• Jesse J. McCrary, Jr. Elementary (Little Haiti)
• Riverside Elementary (Little Havana)

At HEAT Academy students practice reading, writing, math and science, receive assistance with homework, have a safe place to learn after school when their parents are usually not available, and most importantly, learn from positive role models who inspire our students to excel.

The HEAT Academy operates the majority of the school year-round every day of the week, Monday through Friday from 3:30 pm to 5:30 p.m. The HEAT Academy provides educational support to more than 200 students across the three Elementary schools from the 3rd to the 5th Grade. Although the program is free for students enrolled, students are required to meet certain attendance goals and abide by a strict code of conduct if they are to remain eligible.

HEAT Scholarships

Netspend and The Miami HEAT Charitable Fund are offering five (5) HEAT scholarships, each valued at $5,000, to high school seniors attending Miami-Dade, Broward, Monroe or Palm Beach schools. Scholarship applications are available each school year and recipients are awarded between April and May. This year's application deadline is Saturday, February 8, 2025. This will be the 29th year that the Miami HEAT has offered scholarships. Scholarships are awarded based on academic performance and outstanding community service. Scholarships include the following:

• Three (3) $5,000.00 HEAT Scholarships
• One (1) $5,000.00 Dr. Jack Ramsay Scholarship
• One (1) $5,000.00 Alec Kessler Student-Athlete Scholarship

HEAT Fun-Raiser

The Miami HEAT realizes that fundraising is necessary for schools to keep programs properly funded. To help your school, we have created an opportunity for faculty, students and their families to enjoy the experience of a Miami HEAT game - LIVE, while simultaneously helping the school to meet its goals. In a fun and exciting alternative to a raffle or chocolate sell-off, etc., schools have the opportunity to receive money for every Miami HEAT ticket the school is able to sell through the Miami HEAT FUN-raiser program. For additional information on this program, please call  786-777-DUNK.

Program Duration: School Year

HEAT Learn And Play Center

The Miami HEAT along with Florida Blue, have teamed up to create Learn and Play Centers throughout South Florida. As part of this incredible transformation, the HEAT renovates an existing room into a HEAT-themed area with fresh paint and then supplies it with new computers, furniture, books, audio/video equipment and games for children to enjoy & learn from. The concept behind the Miami HEAT Learn and Play Centers are to provide a safe place where children can spend time reading a book, working on their homework, or just having a good time playing video or board games. To date, the HEAT has established Learn and Play Centers at twenty one sites:

• Each of our three HEAT Academy schools - Paul Laurence Dunbar K-8 Center, Jesse J. McCrary Jr. Elementary, and Riverside Elementary
• Community Partnership for Homeless, a Miami based homeless shelter which helps men, women and children transition off the streets of Miami-Dade County and on their way to attaining greater stability and self-sufficiency in their lives.
• Bucky Dent Gymnasium in Hialeah
• His House Children's Home, a shelter and child-placing facility dedicated to restoring the lives of children and families.
• Miami Rescue Mission
• Grapeland Park in Miami
• Shake-A-Leg Miami
• Miami Springs Community Center
• Chapman Partnership
• Joe Celestin Center in North Miami
• Branches
• Little Haiti Cultural Complex
• The Learning Experience School
• Robert King High Park
• Moore Park
• South Dade YMCA Family Center
• Jose Martí Park Community Center
• HANDY, Inc. in Fort Lauderdale
• The Motivational Edge Campus in Allapattah

HEAT Black History Month Activation

Throughout February and beyond, the Miami HEAT and the NBA will celebrate Black history and support the ongoing pursuit of racial justice by taking leaguewide action that centers the voices, experiences and perspectives of Black players, coaches, employees and fans. As we honor the legacy and contributions of Black leaders from history, we will take collective actions in the present that demonstrate our shared commitment to building a more just, equal, and inclusive future.

HEAT Back To School

Presented by Netspend, The Miami HEAT treats local students in need with a back-to-school shopping spree. Each child will be provided with a gift card to shop for much needed items such as school uniforms, notebooks, writing utensils, backpacks, and more. The event kicks off the upcoming school year and also helps alleviate any first day jitters students might be feeling. HEAT players and talent are also on hand to assist with the shopping spree. Miami-Dade County and Broward County are currently the 3rd and 6th largest school districts in the country, respectively. Through this initiative, The HEAT have donated more than 229,000 school supplies to local schools.

HEAT School To Work Program

For the past eighteen years, the Miami HEAT has partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami in providing former HEAT Academy students with the educational and life skills necessary for a successful future. The HEAT School to Work Program has provided hundreds of students with different life skill workshops along with pairing them with the front office staff at the HEAT to help prepare them for college and future employment as well as for consideration of one of fifteen Carnival Scholarships.

Mindfulness Champions Initiative

The importance of mental health, eliminating the stigma surrounding it and providing the education to achieve a more resilient and healthier state of mind has never been a greater need in our society than it is today underscored by the recent pandemic and the affect that will remain with us long term. In an effort to address some of these needs as students and teachers return to school after an extended period of isolation and to further challenge other entities in our community to help join the effort and meet the mental health needs of those living in South Florida and beyond, the Miami HEAT alongside Florida Blue have underwritten the costs of a unique program in collaboration with Miami-Dade County Public Schools - the Miami HEAT Mindfulness Champions Initiative (MCI). Since the inception of the program, MCI has trained a total of 834 teachers in mindfulness and mental health education. The goal is to have one champion for every K-12 public school throughout the school district each year, so they can in turn educate students and other faculty at their respective schools.

How Low Can You Go Challenge

In collaboration with Broward County Public Schools, the HEAT supports and incentivizes schools to take part in the How Low Can You Go Challenge, which challenges schools and empowers students to lower their carbon footprint by reducing energy, water and food waste. The program was the winner of an Innovation Award in 2023 by the Green Sports Alliance. 2024-25 marks the 12th season of the program and over the last 11 years, 340+ schools from Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach County have participated with anywhere from 65-101 schools registering annually. This program is a fun way to learn more about energy, water and food waste conservation while becoming mindful of how the choices we make impact our Earth. The program has also been recognized by the White House, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Geographic as an innovative community project to raise awareness of the effects of CO2 emissions on the environment and change behaviors.

Registration begins on October 6, 2024 for all schools across in the tri-county area. The winning school receives on-court recognition at a HEAT Game and a school pep rally with Miami HEAT talent.

Measures of success from the last 11 years:

• Impact over 480,000+ individuals
• Reduced over 17M kWh
• Energy costs savings of $2,508,298
• Reduced CO2 emissions by over 25M lbs.
• Reduced water consumption by over 39M gallons

If you are interested in registering your school, please click here to learn more about the registration process and click here to sign-up.

To learn more about the How Low Can You Go Challenge, please click here.