Still Undecided? Compare the 2026 Candidates Running to Represent Florida’s Congressional District 24

ADDRESSING THE BLACK BRAIN DRAIN

QUESTION: District 24 is one of the few remaining predominately Black districts left in South Florida after redistricting. According to Census data, Miami-Dade’s Black population dropped from 17 percent to 11 percent from 2010 to 2020. There continues to be what has been dubbed a “Black Brain Drain” – which is a mass exodus of young, talented Black professionals going to other cities and states they feel offer better opportunities for them to lead successful and fulfilled lives. If elected, how do you plan to address attracting and retaining this important demographic.

Te Mayonna Brown: “The best way to stop the brain drain is to create a place where people can actually see a future. I believe people should not have to leave the communities they love in order to find opportunity. If we want to retain talented young professionals, we have to make sure South Florida is a place where they can build a career, own a home, raise a family, and create generational wealth. Throughout my career as a real estate developer and business owner, I have focused on building communities and creating pathways to opportunity. I have helped move people from renters to homeowners, and I founded several companies to help open doors and create opportunities in industries where people have historically faced barriers.
The solution to retaining our young talent is creating an environment where opportunity exists right here at home. That means supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs, expanding workforce development, investing in education and career pathways, increasing access to affordable homeownership, and bringing good-paying jobs to our communities. As a member of Congress, I will advocate for policies that encourage economic growth, support minority-owned businesses and make it easier for people to invest in their own communities. We should not lose our brightest minds because they feel they have no passport here. My goal is to help build a South Florida for young professionals who don’t have to leave to find success. They can find success, leadership opportunities, and a future right here in District 24.”

Marshall Davis: “Throughout my four decades of leadership, I’ve established a tangible blueprint for retaining local talent by treating cultural and technical training as direct economic pipelines. I’ve proven that world-class skill sets can be cultivated and monetized within Liberty City. By connecting early-career instruction directly to viable local industries—such as audio-visual engineering, stagecraft, digital media, union production trades, and arts education—I have provided young people with the credentials and networks required to secure high-paying careers without leaving South Florida. To expand this impact and systematically curb “brain drain,” focusing on local career development with targeted housing and capital access is critical. High living costs remain the primary driver pushing young professionals out of the district; therefore, leveraging public land assets and expanding community land trusts—similar to how I preserved public space for the Center—offers a proven method to secure affordable first-time homeownership for returning graduates and young trade workers. Furthermore, by converting local cultural infrastructure into creative business incubators and connecting local entrepreneurs to federal micro-grants and trade apprenticeships, I proved that young founders can raise capital, scale businesses, and create local jobs within their native zip codes.  Imagine what could be done with all the public schools that are closing? Ultimately, my core strategy rests on institutionalizing a deep-rooted community pride. When young Black adults witness local historic corridors being protected, celebrated, and economically empowered, neighborhood investment becomes a source of generational purpose rather than a compromise. Through local student loan forgiveness incentives for public service, expanded trade union pipelines, and protected homeownership equity, I’ve demonstrated that young talent can stay, invest, and build wealth locally when they are given the infrastructure to succeed right where their roots are already established.”

Oliver Gilbert: “The numbers don’t lie. Young people are leaving. And the reason isn’t complicated: they can’t afford a home here, they can’t start a business here, and too many can’t see a future here. I grew up in Miami Gardens. I went to Miami Norland. This community is part of me. So when we give laptops to graduating seniors at Carol City, Norland, Northwestern, and Dr. Krop, it isn’t a photo op. It’s a statement: we see you, and we expect you to build something. When I take young people on Cultural Express trips across Miami-Dade, or on civil-rights tours through the South, I’m building the kind of connection that makes someone want to come back and want to build here. But connection isn’t enough if you can’t own anything. That’s the fight I’m taking to Congress. My HOME Act lowers the monthly cost of a mortgage so young Black professionals can actually plant roots. My BUILD Business Act opens capital to entrepreneurs who have the ideas and the drive but not the access. I’ll fight for investment in HBCUs — I’m a FAMU graduate, I know what those institutions do. I’ll fight for jobs in the high-paying technical fields AI can’t easily take away. And I’ll fight to bring rapid transit north to Miami Gardens and Broward, because where the rail goes, opportunity follows. You keep young Black talent by making it possible to own something here. A home. A business. A stake.”

Shevrin Jones: “I am, in some ways, the counter-story to the Black Brain Drain: a Carol City kid who went to Florida A&M University and came home. Keeping our young Black professionals means giving them three things: a career, a home they can afford, and a community that respects them. Regarding careers I have championed major investment in Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and my Education to Opportunity Act would let employers redirect existing tuition-assistance dollars toward repaying student loans more than ten years old which is a direct incentive for professionals to build careers here rather than leave debt-strapped. On affordability, my housing, childcare, and cost-of-living agenda targets the real reason young families leave, they cannot afford to stay. The Federal Childcare Affordability and Access Act and tax relief for essential workers are about making it possible to raise a family in this district on a South Florida salary. On respect and belonging: I file the CROWN Act year after year to end hair-based discrimination in schools and workplaces, and I founded L.E.A.D. Nation to develop the next generation of South Florida leaders — work I was doing before I ever held office.”

Kendrick Meek Jr.: “The mass exodus of young Black talent from South Florida is a quiet emergency that threatens the economic, cultural, and political future of our community. When our best and brightest young professionals leave for Atlanta, Houston, or Washington, D.C., it is a direct sign that South Florida has become a place where you can work, but you cannot afford to build a life. As a young Black professional who chose to stay, build a career, and fight for this community, I know firsthand what is missing. In my role with the Miami-Dade Young Democrats, I have focused heavily on creating professional pipelines, networking structures, and civic leadership tracks specifically designed to elevate and retain young leaders of color. To reverse the Black Brain Drain, my federal platform will focus on making South Florida a place where young talent can thrive. I will fight for the following: Targeted Student Loan Forgiveness: I will introduce legislation to provide federal student loan forgiveness packages for professionals who graduate from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) or local institutions and commit to working in high-need sectors—like education, healthcare, and civil law. Fostering Tech and Innovation Hubs: I will leverage federal economic development grants to incentivize emerging tech, green energy, and creative firms to set up operations directly in predominantly Black neighborhoods like Liberty City, Miami Gardens, and Little Haiti, ensuring high-wage, modern career tracks are available locally. Affordable Urban Micro-Housing: I will champion federal incentives for developers to build modern, transit-adjacent micro-housing and live-work spaces tailored to the budgets of early-career professionals, ensuring they aren’t priced out the moment they graduate.”

Jean Monestime: “I plan to recruit Black talent by providing them with housing incentives, which include down payment and cash assistance. I will also sponsor and support legislation that pays off student loans. and pay for the retraining of workers who lost their jobs due to technology. I will also require that the federal government subsidizes all childcare programs up to 5 years of age for households earning less than $200,000 a year.”