{"id":2509,"date":"2026-07-01T16:01:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T16:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2509"},"modified":"2026-07-01T16:01:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T16:01:51","slug":"ken-griffin-gifts-2-million-to-breakthrough-miami-area-mentorship-nonprofit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2509","title":{"rendered":"Ken Griffin gifts $2 million to Breakthrough Miami, area mentorship nonprofit"},"content":{"rendered":"<article><!-- --><!-- --><!-- WPS-5038 -- removed the script from WPS and added the placeholder for trinity player --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- CONTENT --><!--[--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Billionaire hedge fund manager and philanthropist Ken Griffin announced another gift to an education-oriented group in South Florida Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2507\">Where\u2019s Jared? Ivanka Trump posts about husband\u2019s \u2018absence\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Griffin is giving Breakthrough Miami, an academic nonprofit featuring a peer-to-peer mentorship program for South Florida students, $2 million to help fund its programming.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBreakthrough Miami has a profound impact on the lives of Miami students by teaching them the leadership and learning skills they need to pursue their dreams and aspirations. I care deeply about the lives of young people, and I am excited to know that my support of Breakthrough Miami will make a meaningful difference in our community,\u201d Griffin wrote in the release<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The gift is one of several the entrepreneur has made in recent years since moving to South Florida and moving the headquarters of his company Citadel \u2013 one of the world\u2019s largest hedge funds \u2013 to Miami.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Many gifts, like a recent $50 million donation to nonprofit charter school operator Success Academy to expand its footprint in the area, have been oriented towards education. Griffin also gave $50 million to the University of Miami for a research facility, $20 million to Miami Dade College, $16 million for collaborations with Miami-Dade County Public Schools and more.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Breakthrough Miami currently serves about 1,800 students in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. The $2 million from Griffin is targeted towards expanding the population of high schoolers in the grades 5-12 program, allowing around 600 more students to serve as peer mentors and teachers.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Programming takes place over a six-week \u201csummer institute\u201d as well as a commitment to at least two days of schooling on Saturday each month.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Lori-Ann Cox, the nonprofit\u2019s CEO, told the Herald that programming builds both knowledge and confidence.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re working with kids not just to make sure that they\u2019re exposed to academic rigor and given tools for resiliency and leadership, but also [for] their confidence and exploring all the options that are open to them. It\u2019s truly a belief that, given the opportunities and setting high expectations, students will step up to that,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Unlike Griffin\u2019s splashy Success Academy gift \u2013 lobbyists <u>affiliated with Griffin also successfully pushed for a bill<\/u> expanding Florida\u2019s charter \u201cSchools of Hope\u201d law \u2013 the Breakthrough Miami gift is not particularly oriented towards charter schools or other school choice initiatives.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Coming from more than 320 schools in the area, about 70% of program participants attend traditional public schools and 22% attend public charter schools.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2505\">\u2018We can\u2019t afford to stay put\u2019: Higgins plans for climate action despite pushback<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Julia Quinn, director of philanthropy at Citadel, told the Herald that the gift was in line with Griffin\u2019s desire to strengthen Miami through education.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cKen believes that expanding access to high-quality education is one of the most effective ways to strengthen communities and create pathways for success across the board, and so this gift really is an investment in expanding opportunity by equipping more young people with leadership skills [and] teaching professional skills needed to succeed in college and careers. So, it\u2019s really consistent with many of his other education focused gifts in South Florida,\u201d Quinn said.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Breakthrough has relationships with several schools in the area and regularly visits schools to present its program to area fourth graders, Cox said. Applications are quite rigorous by elementary school standards.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Students submit their test scores, transcripts, a personal essay, two letters of recommendation from teachers and sit for an interview. Parents also have to answer some short questions.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Part of Breakthrough Miami\u2019s mission \u2013 and its pitch to donors like Griffin \u2013 is that they\u2019re preparing young people for adult life. In the case of peer mentors, they may even be preparing them for the teaching profession.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is intentionally workforce development for a lot of the young people that come to us. This is their first real job: We\u2019re teaching them how to open bank accounts, manage their time, complete time sheets, produce meaningful deliverables and engage with young people who are looking up to them,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Cox and Griffin\u2019s team are bullish on the results that the program produces.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>According to their data, 100% of Breakthrough participants graduate from high school on time and more than 99% enroll immediately in college, with over 90% of them enrolling in four-year institutions.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>That puts them on a path to take their mentorship experience with them, possibly as future educators or leaders, Quinn said.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think too often students don\u2019t have those opportunities early in their educational trajectories and career trajectories. Being able to create those, and hopefully inspire folks to get excited about careers in education, but also just inspired about the ways that they can lead and support others in their communities is one of the things we love about this program,\u201d Quinn said.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2503\">What to do with a 100-year-old courthouse? Miami-Dade hopes auction brings a buyer<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--]--><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Citadel hedge fund founder and billionaire Ken Griffin gifts $2 million to Breakthrough Miami, a peer-to-peer educational mentorship nonprofit organization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ken Griffin gifts $2 million to Breakthrough Miami, area mentorship nonprofit - Florida Moving Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2509\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ken Griffin gifts $2 million to Breakthrough Miami, area mentorship nonprofit - 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