Vice Chairman McGhee to name street after champion of democracy and Florida activist Dr. Desmond Meade
Vice Chairman Kionne L. McGhee is hosting a street naming ceremony to honor the achievements of Dr. Desmond Meade on Friday, Dec. 6, at 10 a.m., at 26700 S. Federal Hwy., Naranja, FL 33032.
To recognize Dr. Meade’s direct, significant lifetime contributions to the community, Vice Chairman McGhee sponsored a resolution to codesignate a portion of Southwest 268th Street (Moody Drive) between U.S. Route 1 and Southwest 142nd Avenue as “Desmond Meade Street.”
After graduating high school, Dr. Meade joined the United States Army where he served as a helicopter mechanic. After enduring and overcoming multiple personal obstacles, Dr. Meade enrolled in Miami-Dade College while living in a homeless shelter. He graduated in 2010 with the school’s highest honors. He then enrolled in the Florida International University College of Law, where he graduated in 2013.
Dr. Meade serves as president and executive director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC), a grassroots membership organization run by Returning Citizens (Formerly Convicted Persons). This organization is dedicated to ending the disenfranchisement and discrimination against people with convictions and creating a more comprehensive and humane reentry system that will enhance successful reentry, reduce recidivism, and increase public safety.
In 2018, Dr. Meade led the effort to pass Amendment 4, which restored the ability for Floridians with a past conviction to vote. Amendment 4 ended the lifetime ban on voting for more than 1.4 million people and represented the largest expansion of American democracy in a generation.
Dr. Meade’s work earned him a place on TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2019 and a Nobel Peace Prize nomination in 2023. He was named as Floridian and Central Floridian of the Year in 2019, a Ford Foundation Global Fellow in 2020, and a 2021 MacArthur “Genius” Fellow.
WHO: Vice Chairman Kionne L. McGhee
WHAT: Desmond Meade Street Naming Ceremony
WHEN: Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
WHERE: 26700 S. Federal Hwy., Naranja, FL, 33032
