Podcast Summary: Community Based Connections & Palm Beach County Expansion
Podcast: Culturally Speaking: The South Florida Sunday Podcast
Host: Hubbard Radio
Guest: Mike o’. Bell (President and CEO, Community Based Connections)
Date: May 1, 2026
Episode Overview
In this episode, the host welcomes Mike o’. Bell, President and CEO of Community Based Connections (CBC), to discuss the organization's mission, its longstanding impact in South Florida, and their recent expansion from Broward to Palm Beach County. The conversation centers around CBC’s holistic approach to strengthening families and communities, innovative programs, their prevention-focused model, and the importance of meeting people where they are. Bell shares powerful personal stories, program specifics, and a call for further community partnership and support.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Organization Background & Mission
- Community Based Connections has served Broward County for 16 years, recently expanding into Palm Beach County.
- Their core mission: To expand options that change outcomes for children and families—socially, emotionally, academically, and spiritually.
- [00:20 | Mike o’. Bell]:
"Our focus has always been to expand the option that change our children and family to help them be socially and academically responsible... We touch them while they're in the community. We touch them while they are in their home."
2. Signature Programs
A. Fatherhood Program: "ADAM"
- "Awesome Dad Awesome Married Fatherhood Mentoring": Running for 13 years, focused on mentoring fathers, helping with child custody, career support (like CDL licenses), and engaging them through community events.
- Holistic Engagement: Activities include fishing, bowling, and fathers-in-the-community events.
- [01:14 | Mike o’. Bell]:
"We help them custody of their kids, we help them...obtain CDL licenses...we do fatherhood engagement with them and their families."
B. HART Program
- Serves relative caregivers, mothers, fathers, couples, and singles desiring children.
- Focuses on prevention over intervention by nurturing healthy individuals and relationships before families form.
- Goal is to create nurturing environments to foster healthy future community members.
- [02:12 | Mike o’. Bell]:
"Too often we've been focused on intervention and not prevention. And so this is a very prevention perspective type of work..."
3. Holistic, Person-First Approach
- CBC calls their approach “white glove service”—meeting people with a high level of care and customization in service delivery.
- Services address financial, social, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
- Provide tangible supports like rental, utility, and grocery assistance to remove barriers families face.
- [03:40 | Mike o’. Bell]:
"We gotta remove those barriers so those families can be impacted positively. Right? And so...just last year we spent honestly over $100,000 in rental support, spent another 50,000 in utility support...over 10,000 in grocery support."
4. Mental Health and Community Well-being
- Emphasizes the link between mental health, emotional well-being, and overall family stability.
- CBC incorporates workshops, retreats, and peer groups for personal and relational growth.
- Helps break generational cycles of needed assistance by supporting families holistically.
5. Roots and Passion Behind the Mission
- Bell draws inspiration from his own family upbringing and his father's lessons on character and resilience.
- Narrative Shift: Promotes the message that many fathers and community members are present and engaged, countering negative stereotypes.
- [05:59 | Mike o’. Bell]:
"...there's a narrative around there, around fathers are absent, I think there's a larger narrative out there that's not being told that fathers are very much present."
6. Stories of Impact
- Powerful Testimony: Bell shares a moving story of a formerly incarcerated father who found hope and community in CBC's group sessions, openly expressing that the support prevented a tragedy.
- [08:16 | Mike o’. Bell]:
"Had I not come here today, I would have went home and committed suicide. But before I would do that, I would have taken the life of my wife. That's a testament that change can happen when the space to be yourself and to speak...are given."
- Other impact stories include a mom of six, survivor of domestic violence, who became a nurse after CBC’s support.
7. Palm Beach County Expansion
- CBC received a federal grant ($1.25M per year for 5 years) from the Office of Children and Families—enabling them to broaden services.
- Services are now available to all adults (18+) in Palm Beach County, with a focus on those interested in building healthy relationships and families.
- Grateful for Palm Beach's open support and collaboration, indicating a system ready for positive change.
8. Community Partnership & Call to Action
- CBC seeks sponsorships, corporate partners, and volunteers—especially to support job placements and home ownership, key for generational wealth.
- Emphasizes the labor crisis in Palm Beach and opportunities for businesses to join their mission.
- Contact Information:
- [11:21 | Mike o’. Bell]:
"We always looking for sponsorship and corporate partners to partner with to help us place people into employment...We want to make sure we help families become more, create more home ownership, because that's how you create generational wealth."
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- "Our job is to make sure we're creating a nurturing environment. Because what people realize is that a healthy human being becomes a healthy family member, maybe a healthy parent and that healthy parent become a healthy community member."
– Mike o’. Bell [02:11]
- "We call that white glove service because we're looking to provide a higher level of service that people will say, you know what I remember community based connection. And I remember what they did for me and my family..."
– Mike o’. Bell [02:52]
- "People are naturally resilient when we create that opportunity for them and they should be able to stand on that focus."
– Mike o’. Bell [04:32]
- "We're giving them a free space where they can just be themselves and be accepted for who they are. And not, not too many of us have many places we can go where people are just going to accept us where we are."
– Mike o’. Bell [06:34]
Important Segments by Timestamp
- [00:20] – Mission statement & holistic family impact
- [01:14] – Fatherhood program details
- [02:12] – Prevention vs. Intervention in family-focused services
- [03:40] – Barrier removal and direct financial support
- [05:59] – Personal motivation & narrative on fatherhood
- [08:16] – Most impactful client story
- [10:03] – Palm Beach expansion & federal grant
- [11:21] – Call for partners, volunteers, sponsorship
Conclusion
Community Based Connections stands out as a South Florida leader in preventive, holistic approaches to family and community health. From hands-on fatherhood mentoring to facilitating access to employment, wellness, and emotional support, their expansion into Palm Beach County, powered by federal backing, promises to uplift even more families. Bell urges local businesses, sponsors, and community members to join their "village" and help foster lasting generational change.
For more information or to get involved, visit communitybaseconnections.com or call 954-908-5249.