Jean Monestime is an American politician, real estate businessman and member of the Miami-Dade County Commission since 2010. He is the first

Haitian-American Haitian Americans (french: Haïtiens-Américains; ht, ayisyen ameriken) are a group of Americans of full or partial Haitian origin or descent. The largest proportion of Haitians in the United States live in Little Haiti to the South Florida area ...

to serve as a Miami-Dade County commissioner, as well as the first to chair the commission. Monestime represents District 2 in northeast

Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...

, which incorporates portions of

North Miami North Miami is a suburban city located in northeast Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, about north of Miami. The city lies on Biscayne Bay and hosts the Biscayne Bay Campus of Florida International University, and the North Miami campu ...

North Miami Beach North Miami Beach (commonly referred to as NMB) is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. Originally named "Fulford-by-the-Sea" in 1926 after Captain William H. Fulford of the U.S. Coast Guard, the city was renamed "North Miami Be ...

and Biscayne Gardens, as well as the

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

neighborhoods A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; American and British English spelling differences, see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community ...

Little Haiti Little Haiti (french: La Petite Haïti, ht, Ti Ayiti), is a neighborhood of Miami, Florida, United States. It is known historically as Lemon City, Little River and Edison. It is home to Haitian immigrant residents, as well as residents from the ...

and Liberty City. On November 24, 2014, Monestime's colleagues on the Miami-Dade County Commission unanimously elected him as the body's chairman for a two-year term. Monestime, who began his term as commission chairman on January 1, 2015, became the first Haitian American to chair to the County Commission. He succeeded outgoing Chairwoman Rebeca Sosa, who remained a member of the County Commission. The commissioners are officially nonpartisan, although Monestime is a member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. Monestime emigrated from

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

by himself when he was 17 years old. He didn't speak English until he arrived in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. In 1981, he was hired for his first job washing floors in a doughnut shop for $3.50 an hour. Monestime received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

from

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest uni ...

and a

Master's of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from

Nova Southeastern University Nova Southeastern University (NSU or, informally, Nova) is a private nonprofit research university with its main campus in Davie, Florida. The university consists of 14 total colleges, centers, and schools offering over 150 programs of study. ...

. A licensed

real estate broker A real estate agent or real estate broker is a person who represents sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and agen ...

, he owns and operates his own real estate firm, Jemo Enterprises. On November 2, 2010, Monestime defeated incumbent County Commissioner Dorrin Rolle in an upset in the runoff. Monestime won with 53 percent of the vote, while Rolle placed second with 47 percent. Rolle had faced several ethics investigations at the time. During the 2010 campaign, Monestime accused Rolle of emphasizing divisions and disputes between the

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

and Haitian American communities. Montestime, who campaigned on a promise to revitalize District 2's economy, secured $126 million in county funds to provide new sewage hook-ups throughout

, including a commercial district near Northwest Seventh Avenue, which had previously utilized

septic tank A septic tank is an underground chamber made of concrete, fiberglass, or plastic through which domestic wastewater (sewage) flows for basic sewage treatment. Settling and anaerobic digestion processes reduce solids and organics, but the treatme ...

s. The ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a List of communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, city in western Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the M ...

'' called the funds the "biggest achievement" of Monestime's first term as a commissioner. He won re-election for a second term in 2014 in a rematch with Dorrin Rolle. In January 2016, Montestime announced that he would not run for

Mayor of Miami-Dade County The following is a list of mayors of Miami-Dade County, Florida. Mayors See also * List of mayors of Miami (city) * Government of Miami-Dade County References {{Mayors of Miami-Dade County Mayors Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County is ...

in the forthcoming, county-wide mayoral election. He announced in October 2019 that he will run for Miami Dade County mayor in 2020. However he withdrew form the race on April 30 later endorsing eventual winner

Daniella Levine Cava Daniella Levine Cava (born September 14, 1955) is an American lawyer, social worker, and politician who has served as the mayor of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County, Florida since 2020. Previously, she was a Miami-Dade County Commissi ...

Jean Monestime is not related to Carmelau Monestime, a pioneer of Haitian

radio broadcasting Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monestime, Jean County commissioners in Florida American politicians of Haitian descent American real estate businesspeople 2012 United States presidential electors Florida Democrats Haitian emigrants to the United States Florida International University alumni Nova Southeastern University alumni Politicians from Miami Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American politicians