Commissioner Barbara J. Jordan, District 1

Barbara J. Jordan was elected to the District 1 seat of the Board of County Commissioners on November 2, 2004. As Commissioner for District 1, she represents the cities of Opa Locka and Miami Gardens, including the following communities of Carol City, Norland, Crestview, Rolling Oaks, Bunche Park, Scott Lakes, and Andover. Portions of North Miami Beach and North Miami also lie within her district.

Commissioner Jordan currently serves as vice-chairwoman of the Board, sharing oversight of the legislative body's activities and its committees. She is vice-chairperson for the Transit Committee and sits on the Economic Development and Human Services, and Recreation and Cultural Affairs Committees.

Prior to being elected to the Board of County Commissioners, Commissioner Jordan served as Assistant County Manager, where she oversaw the county agencies that promote social and economic independence as well as those that address Miami-Dade County's complex social issues. They include the Miami-Dade Housing Agency, the Housing Finance Authority, Department of Business Development, the Office of Community & Economic Development, Urban Revitalization Task Force, Metro-Miami Action Plan, the Community Relations Board and the South Florida Workforce Board & Consortium. She is one of only three African American women to have held such a rank.

Her exemplary work ethic and profound dedication to her work has drawn her to work with many well-respected organizations such as a substitute teacher in the for Miami-Dade Public School System and director of the Metro-Dade County Community Action Agency's (CAA) Head Start Center. Through the years Jordan held a number of positions at CAA that enabled her to hone her skills managing the fiscal side of social service organizations. She was also the first Executive Director of the Greater Miami Service Corps (GMSC), an organization that took at-risk youth and enhanced their professional skills in order to increase their ability to find employment. In 1995 Jordan assumed the role as assistant director of the Department of Human Services (DHS). DHS is the county agency responsible for delivering a complex of social services to more than 700,000 clients each year - from job training and referral to early education to services for the elderly.

Jordan has peppered her exemplary 30-year career with a number of professional affiliations including as a current member and past president of the National Association of Service & Conservation Corps, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Dade County Human Services Coalition, City of Miami Police Citizens Advisory Committee, National Political Congress of Black Women, Inc. and is active in the Girl Scouts of America.

She received a Bachelor of Science degree in English with a psychology minor form Morris Brown College in 1965 and a Master of Science in Human Services from Nova Southeastern University in 1986. Commissioner Jordan currently resides in Miami-Dade with her husband Eddie and has two lovely daughters and four grandchildren - Neffeteria, Elijah, Jeremiah and Gabrielle.
Revised 02/2007