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 supported by our corporate partner, 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:
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 300 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.
The Miami HEAT Charitable Fund and BankUnited are offering $25,000 in scholarship funds 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 was Saturday, January 28, 2023. This will be the 27th year that the Miami HEAT has offered scholarships. Scholarships are awarded based on academic performance and outstanding community service. Scholarships include the following:
The application deadline has passed for the 2022-23 season. The above scholarships will be rewarded, and a Miami HEAT representative will contact the recipients of the HEAT Scholarships prior to June 30, 2023.
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
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:
To be considered for a Miami HEAT Learn and Play Center, all requests MUST meet the following criteria:
Please mail to:
Miami HEAT
Social Responsibility Department / Learn and Play Center
601 Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, FL 33132
The Black History Month Challenge is a game show-style competition held at the Miami-Dade Arena during the month of February where two teams of students from two local schools test their knowledge of Black history for a chance to win a HEAT prize pack, which includes HEAT tickets and a $4,000 grant to the winning school. Both attending schools are also provided a pizza party provided by Papa John's. 2023 will be the twelfth year of the event hosted by HEAT Television Host and Courtside Reporter Jason Jackson and also incorporating two HEAT legends as captains on each of the opposing teams. The series between Miami-Dade County Public Schools and Broward County Public Schools is currently tied with five wins apiece.
HEAT Players, Hoop Troop, Burnie and HEAT Dancers welcome students and teachers of a local elementary school back to school to help kickoff the school year. With a little encouragement from the HEAT players as they distribute school supplies to the children and the added excitement of the HEAT Experience, the event serves to alleviate any first day jitters the students might be feeling.
For the past fifteen 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.
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 will be announcing and underwriting the costs of a unique program in collaboration with Miami-Dade County Public Schools - the Miami HEAT Mindfulness Champions Initiative (MCI). MCI has trained a total of 354 teachers in mindfulness and mental health education, one for every K-12 public school throughout the school district so they can in turn educate students and other faculty at their respective schools. The trainings which took place during the 2021-2022 school year, were conducted by Mindful Kids Miami.