COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP FOR HOMELESS ADDS FOUR MEMBERS TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS

May 2006


MIAMI — May 18, 2006 — Community Partnership for Homeless chairman Robert Chisholm has named Jon Batchelor, Maria Beguiristain, Jesus Diaz, Jr., and Steven C. Kirk to its board of directors.

Jon Batchelor is managing partner of BBC Aircraft, LLC, a company that buys and sells commercial aircraft and engines globally. Batchelor’s career positions have included serving as chairman and CEO of Miami-based cargo airline Arrow Air, senior vice president of marketing for International Etc., and senior vice president of International Air Leases. A graduate of Burnside-Ott Flight Training Academy, Batchelor has logged more than 7,000 flight hours as a commercial pilot. He is a member of the Granting Committee of the Batchelor Foundation, which was founded by his father and donates to various institutions and charitable organizations, including The Batchelor Children’s Research Institute at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, Miami Children’s Hospital, Dade Education Fund, Easter Seals, and Voices for Children, among others.

Maria Beguiristain is an associate at White & Case LLP, where she is responsible for handling appellate matters and preparing and presenting legal memoranda and arguments for trial-level and administrative proceedings. Before joining White & Case, Beguiristain worked as an assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of Florida during which she prosecuted a 25-defendant, RICO-conspiracy case and handled civil and criminal appeals. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, Beguiristain is the chairperson of The Florida Bar Grievance Committee and a member of the Junior League of Miami and The Federalist Society.

Jesus Diaz, Jr. is the president of the Miami Herald Media Company (MHMC) and publisher of The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald. Diaz joined MHMC in 1992 from Ernst & Young, where he was managing partner of the Miami office. Before Ernst & Young, Diaz worked as the financial services manager of the Greater Europe Group of the Coca-Cola Company as well as vice president and chief financial officer of the Miami Herald Media Company from 1993 to 1996. Diaz has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from Emory University.

Steven C. Kirk serves as the president and chief executive officer of Rural Neighborhoods, a Miami-Dade County-based nonprofit community development corporation engaged in housing, community and economic development throughout rural Florida. Kirk has grown Rural Neighborhoods into a statewide charitable group since 2000, expanding affordable housing communities from Miami-Dade to Hillsborough, Collier, St. Lucie, Hendry and Okeechobee counties. He was recently selected as an advisor to the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a national housing and economic development organization, to serve on their hurricane task force assisting local Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama organizations engaged in hurricane Katrina and Rita recovery. With more than 30 years of charitable expertise, Kirk has received numerous awards for his work supporting community development and affordable housing initiatives. He is a graduate of Duke University.

Community Partnership for Homeless operates two Homeless Assistance Centers: 1550 North Miami Avenue, and 28205 SW 125th Avenue, Homestead. Together, the centers accommodate 700 homeless residents, of which more than 200 are children.

For more information on how to help the Community Partnership for the Homeless, please call us at (305) 329-3042.

###

Distributed by:
WRAGG & CASAS Public Relations, Inc.
1000 Brickell Avenue, Suite 400
Miami, FL 33131
Christina Kolbjornsen Denis
Ph: (305) 372-1234
Fx: (305) 372-8565
cdenis@wraggcasas.com

Webulant Design