Jamaican Mayor of Lauderhill hosts business matchmaker event in Kingston 21

The City of Lauderhill, in South Florida, which is home to approximately 15,000 Jamaicans, will host the GO Bond Buyer-Supplier Matchmaker event on June 23 at the City’s Performing Arts Center.

Lauderhill is well known for its deep Caribbean roots—so much so that the city is often affectionately referred to as “Kingston 21” by the local Jamaican diaspora – 20% of the city’s population of 75,000 claims Jamaican heritage.

According to the Jamaican born Mayor of the City of Lauderhill Denise D Grant, the event is a direct investment in the city’s economic future and the financial wellbeing of the families, businesses and stakeholders who value the city and have vested interest in it’s success.

Grant, who is from Christiana, Manchester and the first black woman Mayor of Lauderhill, says “This matchmaker represents a deliberate bridge between public investment and private opportunity. The voter-approved GO Bond is not just funding infrastructure; it is funding local jobs, local contracts, and local wealth creation. “By connecting buyers with Lauderhill’s suppliers, small businesses, and skilled trades, we ensure that the dollars we spend on capital improvements- rebuilding our city circulate right here in our neighborhoods first”

Grant, who has been Mayor since November 2024, indicated that this is unprecedented access for the business community.

“It levels the playing field for minority-owned, women-owned, and emerging firms to compete for meaningful contracts, build capacity, and scale. It turns public projects into private prosperity — creating new revenue streams, partnerships, and hiring pipelines that will outlast any single construction site”.

Grant, whose son Joshua Grant is the current national Under-17 World Cup-bound Jamaican team, pointed out that for the residents of Lauderhill, the impact is tangible and generational.

“Every contract awarded locally means a neighbour hired, an apprenticeship created, and a household strengthened. These projects deliver the parks, roads, facilities, and safety upgrades our families deserve, while the process itself builds a stronger, more resilient middle class in Lauderhill”.

In closing Grant who holds a bachelor’s degree in organisational leadership and international relations from Stockton University in New Jersey, and certificates in cultural diversity, diplomacy, and communications and business management emphasised that ” Lauderhill is not just spending bond dollars — we are recycling them into community wealth, ownership, and equity”.

She added that “the event affirms a simple principle: when Lauderhill rises, it rises together, and that is how we build a city that works for everyone”.