Mayor Barbara Sharief is an AARLCC Culture Keeper
By Steve Vinik
BROWARD COUNTY, FL – On Monday, June 23, 2014, Broward County’s Mayor Barbara Sharief will be the second “African-American Culture Keeper” to be honored by the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center (AARLCC). A reception will be held at 5 p.m. followed by a moderated program from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The first Culture Keeper honoree was W. George Allen, Esq., a pioneer in Florida civil rights.
According to AARLCC’s Pearl Woolridge, a Culture Keeper is “someone who has made significant contributions to the community in such areas as education, religion or politics.” Ms. Woolridge is coordinating the Culture Keeper programs and arranging for the programs to be video-recorded, a copy to be kept in the archives of the library to be shared with future generations.
Moderating the program is Dr. Tameka Hobbs, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History at Florida Memorial University. She will be guiding Mayor Sharief’s responses and giving the audience an opportunity to ask questions.
Barbara Sharief, M.S.N., A.R.N.P. is the Broward County Commissioner assigned to District 8 in southern Broward County, along with being the County Mayor. She has a Master’s of Science in Nursing and an Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner Degree from Florida International University. In 2001, she created South Florida Pediatric Homecare Inc. to provide care for medically complex children and adults in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties.
She is a native of South Florida and comes from a family of 10. Sharief was raised in the public school system in Miami-Dade and Broward. She graduated from Jackson Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in 1992 as one of the youngest persons to have passed Florida’s RN boards. In 2000 she obtained a Master’s of Science in Nursing and an Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner Degree from Florida International University.
She has over 19 years of experience in the specialized field of issues pertaining to medically complex children. During her career she worked for the Jackson Memorial Health Care system and several other hospitals. She also worked for several national home health agencies as an Administrator and Director of Nursing.
In 2001, Barbara created the South Florida Pediatric Homecare Inc. The company is considered one of the top home health care agencies in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties for care of medically complex children and adults.
In 2009, Barbara was elected to the Miramar City Commission, where she served as Vice-Mayor in 2010. In November 2010, she was elected to the Broward County Commission District 8 seat. She was selected to serve as Chair of the Health and Human Services Policy Committee for the Florida Association of Counties and is a board member of the Broward County Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Homeless Initiative Partnership, and the Value Adjustment Board of Broward County.
On Nov. 19, 2013, Barbara became the first African American female mayor of Broward County and is currently pursuing her Nurse Practitioner Doctorate degree.
The African-American Research Library and Cultural Center is located at 2650 Sistrunk Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311. Call the Welcome Desk at (954) 357-6210.
