This is how Sir Vin Delights got its name, according to owner Donna Rose: Her husband is nicknamed Sir Vincent, “and I am a delight.” Her juices, sold from Miramar, Florida, now have a brick-and-mortar storefront. But she also has distribution to clients that including the Miami Dolphins training camp.
Her business has grown with the help of BRANCHES, a micro-business incubator in Miami-Dade County. And that means Rose’s cold-pressed juices, made from locally grown fruits and vegetables, are reaching more people. Rose worked with BRANCHES on marketing and branding. She received a grant through the nonprofit, and she attended a series of workshops.
On a tour during the NeighborWorks ® Training Institute this month, Rose spoke to participants about her work and the role BRANCHES had played in growing her microbusiness. “When I first went to them, we had all of our business licenses, but we weren’t doing it right,” she said. “All of my receipts were in a shoebox.”
BRANCHES’ guidance included introductions to accounting software, marketing software and more.
The tour was part of a class, CED Principles, Practices and Strategies, led by Faculty Member Peg Barringer.
“It makes a great addition to the course,” Barringer said. “Participants really like to connect with somebody from the city we’re in.” That way, she says, the class gets to see close up the way nonprofits foster economic development. Some of her students are already doing economic development in their cities. Others see it as a possibility.
Brent McLaughlin, president and CEO of BRANCHES, said the COVID-19 pandemic had a big impact on his community. “Businesses were closing like crazy,” he said. That’s when BRANCHES teamed up with the United Way to provide grants to businesses that were not prepared for technology. They’re prepared now, he said.
André Diaz, owner of The Creative Strategist, said his business, which offers fractional chief marketing officer services to small businesses so they can grow their brand and cre
ate more sales, grew exponentially once he joined BRANCHES.
“My business in 2025 doubled in revenue,” he said. “By June of 2026, my business has surpassed what I made all of last year. And if it had not been for the opportunity that I got here, that would not have been the case.”
His goal, he said, is to help businesses build an impact not just for now, but for future generations.
The tour also included a visit w
ith members of the Allapattah Collaborative CDC, which also conducted a second tour during the week. The nonprofit is dedicated to community preservation and the tour included conversations with small business growth managers, community navigators, and small business owners like Omar Fotine, owner of High Class Barbershop.
His rent had doubled, he explained in Spanish through Hernan Guerrero Applewhite, a Placemaking and Neighborhood Development Specialist. And his hope was to generate more foot traffic to help him fill that gap. The seven-chair barber shop in the Northwest 17th corridor is doing well, he said. He gives back to his community by providing free haircuts to kids in need.
The owner of Tipico Centro American Café, who doesn’t let her community go hungry, also received assistance from Allapattah. After her mother died, she said, she was pulled between grieving, taking care of her own children, and running the business. She worked 16-hour days.
It took a lot for her to trust Allapatta, she shared, because no one had helped for the last 20 years. But when she let them in, she got the help she needed.
The tours are a chance for participants to learn about challenges in communities that are both different and like their own. They are also a chance to learn about solutions.
Learn more about training and professional development at NeighborWorks. Read more about this year's NTI on our blog.
