ABOUT US | sfda

WHY A DEFENSE ALLIANCE?

Advocate: 24 Commands and 15

Installations

Support: 56,000 active, reserve, guard

servicemembers, civilians and their families

Assist: Over 230,000 veterans in our 4 counties

Grow: Economic impact of $12.3B and 130K jobs

Enhance: Increased military missions and latest

advanced technology and equipment

Protect: Encroachment, realignment or BRAC

Promote: Value of our strategic location, training sites and installations

Need: Strong consistent, single voice to tell our story and change perceptions

Essential: United effort – local, state and federal

Largest MSA in Florida

30% of state population

32% of Florida’s GSP

34 of 120 State House Districts

12 of 40 State Senate Districts

9 of 27 Federal Districts

24+ Military Commands

15+ Installations

25,000 service-members

2 Major Seaports

2 Major Airports

Strategic Defense Location

Gateway to Americas

HISTORY

history

The South Florida Progress Foundation, the charitable arm of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce (GMCC) was recently awarded a Florida Defense Support Task Force grant to form the South Florida Defense Alliance, a 501(c)(6) non-profit organization, whose mission is to unite, grow, champion and represent our local defense community. The South Florida Defense Alliance will leverage the strong relationships and the successes that the GMCC’s Military Affairs Committee and the Miami-Dade County’s Military Affairs Board have achieved as being long-standing advocates for military presence, readiness, capability and growth in South Florida. Most importantly, it will work in concert with the many organizations throughout the county already supporting our precious military installations, commands, service-members and their families.

South Florida has a storied military history, hosting some of the nation's most important DoD assets and military commands. USSOUTHCOM, NAS Key West, Coast Guard District 7, MARFORSOUTH, Homestead Air Reserve Base and SOCSOUTH are just a handful of the many military institutions in our region that houses over 25,000 service-members. Creating a consistent voice for the various commands will bring much needed cohesion to an area whose enormous military presence goes almost entirely unnoticed. This alliance has been formed to unite, champion and grow the South Florida defense community, and since its formation in 2017, it has made strides in all 3 areas and will only continue to build on its successes.