Constance Collins
President & Director
Founder & President, The Sundari Foundation Inc.
Constance Collins, Esq., is President and Executive Director of the Sundari Foundation, Inc., a non-denominational 501c3 public charity, best known as the Lotus House Women’s Shelter, and its supporting foundations, Lotus Endowment Fund, Inc., Lotus Village Development, LLC, and Lotus Supporting Foundation, Inc. A lawyer and businesswoman prior to founding Lotus House, she has served as a full time volunteer for the Lotus family of charitable organizations since inception, overseeing the development, operations, programming, services, research and growth of the Lotus House and its new home in Lotus Village, an all new state of the art, comprehensive homeless services facility, Lotus House Thrift, LLC and Lotus Wellness Center, LLC. She is a passionate advocate for enlightened social policies and innovative solutions to ending homelessness that put children first.
Winner of the 2016 Non-Profit Innovation Award of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, Lotus Village is a life-changing comprehensive homeless services facility designed as a mixed-use “village” combining state of the art shelter facilities and holistic, trauma-informed, supportive services to heal, nurture and uplift children and families experiencing homelessness. With capacity to shelter over 500 women and children nightly, this prototype for the future includes: solution focused individual needs assessments and social services supports, individual and group counseling, child and family therapy, and social services advocacy; a working classroom kitchen sized to deliver a half million meals a year; an urban garden nourishing body, mind and spirit; a healing hands salon to soothe and uplift; a computer library for adult education and after school programming; yoga, Reiki, meditation, dance and exercise classes; an art and activities lab offering alternative pathways to healing and creative expression; and welcoming play spaces for children throughout the village. Aptly named, Lotus Village, because it takes a village, this new facility is the first of its kind on a national level, the more so because it includes a trauma-informed, therapeutic children’s wellness center including six classrooms offering early child care and education for newborns to age three, with a therapeutic overlay of child-parent therapy, play therapy, parenting classes, resource coordination, and linkages to key community partners to strengthen and uplift children and families. Enriched with a health clinic for women and children, Lotus Village is deeply embedded in and serving the neighborhood it calls home, preventing and bringing an end to homelessness with a full range of medical and dental services. So much more than a shelter, Lotus Village is a center for innovative, best practices, research and advocacy for public and social policies to raise awareness of the gender specific needs of women and youth experiencing homelessness and advance the health, wellbeing and school readiness of children experiencing homelessness and address the special needs of women and youth, and offers a platform for deeper community engagement, collaboration, shared learning and dialogue, on a local, state and national level.
Ms. Collins’ work on behalf of the Foundation is preceded by over twenty-two years of business, finance, real estate and legal experience. She served as the chief operating and financial officer, general counsel, and co-founder of a full service real estate investment advisory firm, Urban Investments Advisors, LLC (and its predecessor Starwood Urban Investments) and real estate holding company, Starwood Urban, LLC, and its subsidiaries, responsible for the management and operation of a national commercial real estate investment portfolio, overseeing growth and value-added strategies, development, financing, accounting, and reporting for portfolio revenues, until the successful disposition of those investments in 2005. Prior to Starwood, Ms. Collins was in private law practice, representing institutional investors and lenders in structuring, negotiating and documenting complex real estate, business and financial transactions, credit recovery, litigation oversight, and repositioning of investment properties. She graduated Order of Coif with a Juris Doctorate Degree from University of Colorado School of Law, Boulder, Colorado, and earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut.
Current Board Service: Miami Dade County Homeless Trust; Miami Dade County Domestic Violence Oversight Board
Honors: 2018 Women of Impact Award, Women’s History Coalition of Miami Dade County, Inc.; 2018 Philanthropy Award, Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness; 2017 Spectrum Award, American Red Cross; 2016 Visionary Award, Miami Herald; 2016 Julia Tuttle Award by City of Miami Commission on the Status of Women; 2016 Salutation Honoring Women in Public Service by the City of Miami; 2015 Public Servant Award – South Florida Community Development Coalition; 2014 FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award by Unites States Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; 2010 Woman of Vision Award by the Weitzman Institute; 2008 Local Hero Award by Bank of America; 2007 Honoree, Women Who Make a Difference by Junior League of Miami, Inc.; 2006 Commendation For Women Builders of Communities and Dreams, National Women’s History Month, by the City of Miami and Miami Commission on the Status of Women.
Lotus House/Lotus Village Awards: Four Stars, Charity Navigator; Platinum, Guide Star; 2017 Housing for Everyone Award, TD Charitable Foundation; 2016 Non-Profit Innovation Award of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce; 2014 Housing for Everyone Award, TD Charitable Foundation; “Best Charity” by New Times 2013; 2013 Community Spirit Award from the Commission on Women; 2012 Outstanding Service Excellence Award from the American Society for Public Administration – South Florida Chapter; 2012 Zeta Phi Beta Community Achievement Award; Neighborhood Builder Award of the 2011 Neighborhood Excellence Initiative of Bank of America; Leave a Legacy 2010 Donor Next Door award presented by the Health Foundation of South Florida; 2010 Unity Award by Theodore R. Gibson Memorial Fund; 2010 Health Care Hero Award by Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce; “Best of Miami Shelter” by New Times, 2010; and 2005 and 2006 Networking Deal of the Year for Sundari Foundation, by Miami CREW, for Lotus House.
Learn more at www.lotushouse.org and www.lotusendowment.org
Contact her at 305.613.1573 or constance@lotushouse.org
Cindy Bell
Vice President & Director
Nurse & Volunteer
"I believe that we are all connected and collectively we can make a difference in this community, in our city and in the world. To see a woman and a child’s life transform keeps me returning time and again."
Kim Abreu
Treasurer & Director
Senior Vice President, Bank of America
"I am involved because I believe the Lotus House model of providing holistic, wrap around services in addition to housing provides a greater chance of success in ending the cycle of homelessness. Every woman and child touched by Lotus House has the opportunity to be the best they can be and our community will share in their success."
Julie Lotspeich
Director
Philanthropist
Cobi Moon
Director
Retired Firefighter, City of Miami
"Having retired after 29 years as a Miami firefighter, I was inspired to think of a way to serve again, especially the women and children in our community. I was introduced to the work of Constance Collins and the Lotus House. The incredible things they were doing to uplift and empower women and children was something I knew I wanted to be a part of!"
Antonia Wright
Director
Artist
Martin Z Margulies
Director
Developer & Philanthropist
"There are many different charities one can be involved with. Lotus House is an exceptional charity which brings hope and uplifts people who are less fortunate. There is no wasted money on achieving these excellent results."
Dr. Gordon Miller
Director
Doctor
"I am involved with Lotus House and the Sundari Foundation to support the enthusiastic work done by Constance Collins in this great endeavor on which she has embarked."
John Sumberg
Director
Managing Partner, Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod, LLP
"Literally the first day I met Constance over 10 years ago, I was inspired by her vision of helping homeless women and children and providing them the support and opportunities they need to improve their circumstances and lives. Lotus House is the manifestation of that vision and dream. I am honored and humbled to be involved. "
Faith Xenos
Director
Founding Partner, Singer Xenos Wealth Management
"When they say ‘it takes a village,’ Lotus House is the village I have always envisioned. An organization committed to helping women and children thrive; operating with the utmost professionalism and ethics; and being a part of the fabric of the community. That is why I have supported it for the past 11 years, and why I will continue for as long as I have the privilege to do so."
Debra Wechsler
Director
Norman & Irma Braman Family Foundation
"I am really thrilled to be involved with and on the board of Lotus House because of the many lives we change. From single women to teenage girls to mothers to be and everyone else. Lotus House changes the lives of these women but also of their families. If you love Miami, you have to love Lotus House..."
William Real
Director
President, Civic Construction Company, Inc.
"Simply,…I was struck by the mission."
Mark Tamis
Director
Senior Vice President, Hotel Operations, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
"When my daughter Isabella was three she asked me if we could go play with "Charity." I had just gathered some of her toys and the highchair she had just grew out of, and told her I was going to give them to Charity. It was in that moment that I gathered her up with me and introduced her to charity and on that day we started www.dadsforgiving.org Many years later in Miami Beach we were looking for a place to donate a playground set my three kids had grown out of and was introduced to Lotus House and met Constance on the day we delivered the set. I know then that I wanted to combine my efforts with my kids, Bella, Harry and Ricky and Dads for Giving and have since hosted annual events with Lotus House. I also wanted to find a way to become more directly involved in the work and vision that Constance had set for Lotus Village. I look forward to being involved for many years to come and can't wait to see the smiles on the faces of the mothers and children whom will get to call Lotus Village home for a short while until they transition to an even better home…"
Maria Millares
Director
Millares & Co PA
Seth Cassel
Director
President, EveryMundo
"I am involved because of my love for Miami and all of its communities, especially those in need; and because Lotus House is both impacting people on a local level while effecting change on a national level. "
Dwayne Robinson
Director
Senior Associate, Hogan Lovells
"As a Christian, my faith is not merely a word, an association, a belief, or ideals. It is an action. Among other things, that action is to: Love my neighbors as I love myself, which I fail at daily. From my very first time volunteering at Lotus House, I saw that the Lord’s work was being done there. And I did not want to miss out on the action."
Rachel Wagner Furst
Director
Partner, Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen
"I am involved to support the most vulnerable and disadvantaged women and children in my community and the amazing Lotus House team that works to transform their lives."
Dr. Kathryn Villano
Director
Holistic Doctor & Philanthropist
Miroslav "Misha" Mladenovic, P.E.
Director
President, M2E Consulting
"I had the pleasure of meeting Constance when she was a developer, as a client. We developed both a keen sense of professional and personal respect, but also a connection on a more spiritual level (yoga, community, justice). When I saw her several years later passionately explaining the model of Lotus House at a Chamber event, I knew we had to get involved, as our engineering profession has many uses (designing, building), and I offered to Constance “to use me as much as she can!”. Sure enough, the phone rung, and we provided design work for the Chic Boutique, certification for the existing buildings, and it all gave us the opportunity to interact more closely with all the wonderful staff and guests at the Lotus House. I was hooked! Unforgettable moments multiplied from the opening of the Chic Boutique to the testimony of guests and their children. What Lotus House gave me back is infinitely more than I gave: a renewed sense of the existence of goodness in this world (don’t we all need that now?). I particularly remember Constance’s words when we started talking about Lotus House, that it is a nonprofit that will eventually be self-sustaining, with former guests becoming future community leaders and fundraisers: what a far-reaching prophecy! … "
Chris McAliley
Director
Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida
"Lotus House's guests, graduates, founders and leaders inspire me. They embody love, courage and determination, and it feels wonderful to support them."
Robert Behar
Director
Behar Font & Partners, P.A.
Tadd Schwartz
Director
Schwartz Media
Tiffany Zientz Heckler
Director
CFO, LSN Partners, LLC