Foundation run out of a townhouse won millions from Tallahassee, Miami-Dade. Why?

Miami Herald

23-07-2025

From a West Miami townhouse, the A3 Foundation has spent its first two years in existence racking up nearly $2 million in government funding from Miami-Dade County and the state.
This year, the nonprofit led by a top official in the city of Miami's government came out of Florida's legislative session with a $950,000 allocation of state money — nearly double what the charity had requested. Of that, $450,000 came from the 'sprinkle list' fund of unassigned state budget dollars controlled by House Speaker Danny Perez, a Miami Republican who is friendly with the foundation's president, Francisco Petrirena.
Petrirena told the Miami Herald last week that he's earning $80,000 a year running the A3 Foundation while also working full-time as chief of staff to Miami City Manager Art Noriega. 'Right now, it's only me,' Petrirena said of his work for a foundation he formed in the fall of 2023 that has since secured millions of dollars in funding through the state and Miami-Dade County.
In 2024 and 2025, the charity collected nearly $1 million from Miami-Dade in connection with CountryFest, the rodeo and farming festival hosted each year at Tropical Park by County Commission Chairman Anthony Rodriguez, a close friend of Perez.
County emails made public this week illuminate how the A3 Foundation secured county dollars while largely staying out of the public eye, until it wound up the beneficiary of a Parks contract at last week's County Commission meeting. The emails show Rodriguez connected A3 with the signature county event in his district — and the county funding that comes with it.
In a July 9, 2024, email to David Clodfelter, the county's budget director, for instance, a staffer in Rodriguez's office asked about getting a $421,000 check for the nonprofit. A3 had sent CountryFest invoices to Rodriguez's office, needing county dollars to pay event vendors.
'David per our conversation attached is the invoice that needs to be paid to A3 Foundation Inc for the 2024 CountryFest show,' Aldo Gonzalez, Rodriguez's legislative director, wrote. 'Can you please confirm this and make the payment as soon as possible please.'
Rodriguez did not respond to a question on why Miami-Dade is using A3 to pay county dollars to CountryFest vendors.
Online records show A3 began collecting county payments in the spring of 2024, six months after Petrirena filed papers forming the nonprofit in September 2023. Nearly two years later, the foundation's mailing address in state records remains at the West Miami townhouse, where an accountant not listed on A3's organizing documents runs a home business. The Herald visited the townhouse last week and, after nobody answered the door, left a letter requesting copies of the foundation's latest tax returns — documents that federal law says should be available for public inspection. The Herald has not received a response.
As of Tuesday, A3's website had no contact information and blank entries under the page titled 'Our Programs.'
That hasn't stopped it from getting a steady stream of dollars from Miami-Dade.
Funded with budget allocations by Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and County Commission nonprofit grants, the charity has so far received about $980,000 from Miami-Dade, according to an online database of county payments.
County records show commissioners allocated about $270,000 to the A3 Foundation over the last two years, utilizing funds reserved for charities and nonprofit events. The awards are granted by County Commission votes, which are typically perfunctory at the end of a meeting. Rodriguez sponsored the largest donations to A3, worth $100,000.
Now, the foundation's local funding is causing friction at County Hall, days after Levine Cava unveiled a 2026 budget proposal with steep cuts in grants for charities across Miami-Dade.
Following a Herald story last week on last-minute legislation on a Parks Department contract that requires a vendor to make annual payments to A3, County Commissioner Eileen Higgins is asking Levine Cava to freeze the deal until the board can revisit its July 16 vote, which guarantees the foundation $250,000 a year.
The payments to A3 would come from Loud and Live, the production company that last week secured the county contract to operate Tropical Park's equestrian center, home to CountryFest and other ticketed events, in exchange for paying rent and a revenue share to Miami-Dade. The A3 payments are a requirement of the contract, which was presented to the board by Rodriguez in legislation that passed by a wide margin last week.
'After reviewing the media reporting and attempting to learn more, I have found limited publicly available information regarding the organization's track record, including the services delivered, people served, and documented outcomes,' Higgins, a candidate for mayor in the city of Miami, wrote in an email to Levine Cava, a fellow Democrat, on Sunday. 'The article has understandably prompted questions from constituents.'
In a response to Higgins on Monday, Levine Cava wrote: 'Thanks for sharing these concerns and we will review right away.'
Payments from Miami-Dade and Florida
A3's website offers no information on charitable work performed by the foundation. The website offers a brief mission statement for the charity: 'The A3 Foundation is a non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting sustainable agriculture, advocating for educational opportunities, and creating awareness of community priorities.' Petrirena has not responded to inquiries since a brief phone interview last week.
The 20-year contract for Loud and Live is forecast to generate at least $24 million for Miami-Dade's Parks Department, with the Doral company also required to pay A3 monthly installments worth $5 million over the life of the deal. The contract stipulates that if the Parks Department pays to upgrade the 50-acre equestrian center, the A3 payment requirement increases from $250,000 to $300,000 per year.
The contract negotiated by Levine Cava's staff included the terms requiring the payments be made to an unnamed charity, but mention of A3 Foundation as the recipient did not come until Rodriguez added the legislation to the July 16 commission meeting agenda.
Higgins joined the majority in approving the item, which Rodriguez added to the agenda late enough that any commissioner could have requested a delay until the board's next meeting. While no commissioner asked for more time to review the contract, two voted against the agreement without comment: Juan Carlos Bermudez and Micky Steinberg. Neither responded to requests for comment from the Herald.
The vote came the day after Levine Cava unveiled a 2026 budget proposal that cuts more than $40 million in nonprofit grant funding, part of the mayor's plan to close a $402 million deficit in the county's tax-funded budget.
In a statement, Rodriguez defended the required A3 payments in Loud and Live's contract as a good way for Miami-Dade to use private dollars to fund a charity that can help the community.
'The A3 Foundation is an ag-focused nonprofit organization that, while new, has served our community well,' said Rodriguez, a first-term Republican whose suburban district includes Tropical Park. 'If private entities are going to partner with our county for profit, it's important that those entities give back by way of supporting our local nonprofits. I am grateful for the work that A3 does and am proud to support them.'
A3 Foundation has received tax dollars for Tropical Park's CountryFest
County records show A3 serves as the clearinghouse for Miami-Dade dollars used to fund CountryFest, a springtime event put on by Loud and Live. Once a county cattle show, Rodriguez rebranded the event as CountryFest after winning his District 10 seat in 2022 and turned it into a Tropical Park jamboree with live music, a VIP saloon with open bar and a food truck village. Visitors to the two-day event that started April 26 walked under a welcome sign with Rodriguez's name on it.
When Rodriguez's office requested the $421,000 check for A3 last summer, the funds came partly out of the Parks Department's $250,000 allocation for CountryFest, according to the correspondence released from the county's Clerk of the Court and Comptroller's Office.
The remaining money came from federal COVID stimulus aid that Miami-Dade was using to boost nonprofit funding, the correspondence said.
Attached to the email was a one-page invoice from A3 using the townhouse address, listing a $421,000 charge for vendor payments.
In March, another check request came from Rodriguez's office for $300,000, again with a one-page invoice from A3 weeks ahead of CountryFest starting. Also included in the backup materials for the check request is legislation Rodriguez had passed in 2024, waiving the county's bid requirements and purchasing rules for CountryFest.
'We ask that you please process this invoice as soon as possible as they need to start paying for things related to this event,' Gonzalez, the Rodriguez aide, wrote to the county's budget office on March 25.
It's not known why Rodriguez wanted a foundation to collect county dollars for CountryFest instead of Miami-Dade paying Loud and Live directly.
As a nonprofit, A3 could accept tax-deductible sponsorship dollars for CountryFest. But A3's website makes no mention of CountryFest or its ability to put on an event that attracts more than 25,000 attendees a year.
Also unclear is how the foundation got its name. 'A3' does have a potential connection to CountryFest's main patron and official host. Rodriguez and his wife have three children, each with a name that starts with 'A,' according to the Rodriguez biography still available on a webpage for the Florida House, where he served between 2018 and 2022. Rodriguez did not respond to a Herald inquiry about whether the foundation's name is a nod to his family.
It's not known if Rodriguez has a friendship with Petrirena, but they share a friend in Perez. Rodriguez has described Perez as his best friend.
In an interview, Perez said he knows Petrirena and is friendly with him. The two worked together at Doctors HealthCare Plans, where Perez is general counsel and Petrirena was a manager before starting as the city of Miami's in-house lobbyist at the end of 2023, according to his LinkedIn profile.
In a Sept. 18, 2023, post on his private Instagram account, Petrirena shared a photo of himself standing with Perez on the Florida House floor the day that fellow Republicans formally voted to put Perez in line to be speaker the following year. Of his then-colleague and fellow Cuban American, Petrirena wrote: '3rd Cuban American in the history of Florida to serve as speaker. Proud of you bro, and to be part of this historic moment.'
The post came seven days after Petrirena filed papers with Florida to form the A3 Foundation and weeks before he started his job with the city of Miami as director of government relations, overseeing the city's lobbying efforts in Tallahassee.
While working for Miami to boost state funding, Petrirena also was seeking state dollars for A3. Last year, he filed a request for $500,000 for A3 in the 2025 state budget but ended the session empty-handed. The A3 Foundation filed another $500,000 request this year, and lawmakers included the money in spending bills in the Florida House and Senate.
Then Perez added more when he released his list of funding awards from a pot of money that's traditionally been granted to House speakers. A3 was at the top of the alphabetical list, giving the foundation $450,000 more in state funds than it asked for. That landed A3 with a $950,000 allocation in the budget Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law last month.
In an interview, Perez said he picked A3 for the additional dollars from his so-called 'sprinkle list' because of what he said is the foundation's plan to bring agricultural education to Miami-Dade residents with developmental disabilities.
'There are going to be multiple organizations on the 'sprinkle list' that are autism-centric,' Perez said.
A3's status as a charity in Miami-Dade also made it a good choice for extra state dollars, he said: 'I wanted to make sure we brought home money to the Miami area.'
Perez said his personal connections with Petrirena played no role in the allocation.
'There are many elected officials who know many people that receive funds from the state,' Perez said in an interview Monday. 'He did not receive this because he is friends with the speaker. He received it because it is an organization that is going to immerse agricultural education within the disabled community.'