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GET Cities Miami is closing but its leader will continue its gender equity work with Radical Partners

Nancy Dahlberg
Nancy Dahlberg
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By Nancy Dahlberg

GET Cities Miami, an arm of a national initiative supporting gender equity in tech, launched in Miami at the end of 2021 with fanfare and funding, and soon after announced Toia Santamarina would lead the new Miami chapter as managing director. Today, GET Cities, which operated in three cities, is announcing that it is closing but its work will continue under what it calls its Transition to Community.   

For Miami, that means Radical Partners will continue the work GET Cities kicked off, and Santamarina will join Radical Partners as Director of Coalitions. Radical Partners, already a partner with GET Cities, accelerates social impact ventures by investing in leaders, mobilizing locals, co-creating solutions and building coalitions to strengthen Miami.

“I’m so excited because we feel that with this transition, all the work that we’ve been doing has the possibility to scale and foster even more impact in Miami. I think it is that crucial next step,” said Santamarina, in an interview with Refresh Miami.

As part of this transition to the community, Radical Partners will continue the work of GET Cities Miami by recruiting and hosting a third cohort of 15-20 GET Champions in early 2025 and growing a solid GET Champions Alumni Network through curated quarterly gatherings and resources.

GET Champions are technology leaders with the desire and authority to hire, retain and sponsor women, trans and nonary professionals at their companies. As part of a cohort, they receive knowledge, coaching and strategies to help them. That’s because today only about a quarter of tech professionals in the Miami area and nationwide are women, and it is going to take the help of forward-thinking business leaders to move the needle toward gender equity in the tech workforce. Research has shown that businesses with more women in the mix tend to perform better.

“The idea is that now we can build upon our local interventions and connect more local talent to Miami’s largest tech employers that we have here,” said Santamarina, who added that GET Cities is also providing funding to continue the work.

Cohort 2 of GET Champions is wrapping up. Earlier this month, the cohort put on a Talent Connect event, with the Miami Tech Talent Coalition as co-sponsor. Santamarina is also a leader of the Inclusive Tech Talent Work Group within MIami Tech Works’ Tech Talent Coalition. The Talent Connect event gave GET Champions an opportunity to connect with and interview local tech talent, who were invited from Miami Dade College, BrainStation, 4Geeks Academy, Init and other organizations with candidates seeking tech jobs. The leaders represented employers such as Miami Marlins, Microsoft, Wayfair, MasterCard, eMed and others. Santamarina will start with Radical Partners July 1.

“Champions has unique elements where we connect supply and demand, we work with leaders that have the capacity to change internal processes in terms of equity and inclusion. We are working with leaders that are committed to diverse talents. We are working with leaders that have resources, the actual capacity to hire,” Santamarina said. “I heard many times hiring managers saying ‘I always see the same type of people coming into our interviews because I really don’t know where to find diverse talent.’ Champions connect both sides.”

Going forward, Santamarina, through Radical Partners, will also collaborate with crucial tech networks in Miami to increase access for women, trans and nonbinary people and offer equity best practices, as well as advocate for gender equity in other Social Impact Networks through CR (Corporate Responsibility) Miami and F*up Nights Miami. 

“We look forward to expanding their work and bringing gender equity at the core of all our activities. Radical Partners has been there from the beginning of GET Cities Miami. Now we can build upon our local impact and iterate the GET Champions interventions to connect more local talent – who are often unplugged from life-changing opportunities – to some of Miami’s largest and incoming tech employers,” said Joan Godoy, CEO of Radical Partners.

GET Cities national work will also continue through the Last Mile Education Fund. Many Miami area students have benefited from Last Mile scholarships, Santamarina said.

“GET Cities, the national program, was always envisioned to really uplift what is already in the community. The idea was to try new things, take the risks, and pass the torch along on [the programs] that were most successful to the lothat’s cal people that really know the most about the community and what is really happening here,” Santamarina said. “So we are very excited about that.”

Terri-Ann Brown, who leads Miami Tech Works, addresses the students at GET Cities Miami Talent Connect.

READ MORE ECOSYSTEM NEWS IN REFRESH MIAMI:

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