LAUDERDALE LAKES – Twelve years ago this Wednesday Lauderdale Lakes Commissioner Hazelle Rogers was the first Caribbean American elected to political office in South Florida. It is with immense pride that we announce this week the historic celebration of accomplishment for the Caribbean American Community and Womens Month.
Today, she is the longest serving Caribbean American elected official in the entire United States and the only woman and one of the two longest active serving members of the current sitting commission in Lauderdale Lakes.
Commissioner Rogers is an active member of numerous professional and civic organizations. A Board Member and former President of Broward League of Cities, she currently serves as the Vice Chair of The Broward County Charter Review Commission, Vice-Chair of Broward UNCF, and a member of the Board of Directors of Florida Medical Center and the State of Florida Consumer Board. She was one of the organizers of community associations in Lauderhill and Sunrise, creating a model of community participation that has been effective in empowering and engaging the residents of Lauderdale Lakes.
Commissioner Hazelle Rogers
The City of Lauderdale Lakes has been her life’s work for the last twelve years and this is very evident by the quantity and quality of the institutions and services that are now firmly entrenched as an integral part of the city’s service delivery. It was Commissioner Rogers who worked with Broward County to provide the first community bus for residents of the City of Lauderdale Lakes. Commissioner Rogers followed that up by bringing Florida Memorial University into the City of Lauderdale Lakes; her leadership in identifying Community Redevelopment Agency as an economic and redevelopment tool for 441/State Rd 7 in the City of Lauderdale Lakes, a model which is being adopted by other cities along SR 7/441, she is also one of three founding members of the State Road 7 Collaborative that secured over $2 million to begin the renaissance/branding of State Road 7 as vital economic hub and transportation friendly corridor.
In addition to these activities she has continued to serve her community as co-chair for United Negro College Fund where over 13 years, $120,000 was raised to support education of our children.
As an active member of Land Preservation and Parks Advisory Boards for over 7 years, she advocated the funding of new parks and a community swimming pool for the City of Lauderdale Lakes and other areas in Central Broward. Her legislative efforts led to the establishment of the Economic Development, the School Advisory and the Historic Preservation Boards in the City of Lauderdale Lakes, she is also the founding member of the Lauderdale Lakes Community Council and was instrumental in the YMCA providing service in the city of Lauderdale lakes which has extended to the City of Lauderhill under the Lauderhill/Lauderdale Lakes Central YMCA.
Commissioner Rogers has served as Past President of the Broward County League of Cities (2004) (a first for a Commissioner in the City of Lauderdale Lakes, is an active member of Florida League of Cities and the National League of Cities, and has participated in numerous National/Florida League of Cities classes to develop elected officials and is a member of the State of Florida Consumer Council, representing Broward County. She has created many service partnerships with business and the schools in her city.
In 2007 Commissioner Hazelle Rogers was the recipient of HOT 105FM’s Success Matters Award in 2006 she was named by Success Magazine of Florida as one of the 25 most influential women in the State of Florida. Also in 2006 she received the Orange Bowl’s Thurgood Marshall Community Service award, and in 2001 was inducted into the Broward Women Hall of Fame for Excellence in Community Service.
The illustrious career of Commissioner Hazelle P. Rogers is one in which we call all take pride in celebrating as we commemorate her 12 years of service to the City of Lauderdale Lakes and South Florida.
