Leadership Award - Individual
Barbara Cheives

Barbara Cheives is the president and CEO of Converge & Associates Consulting. Converge specializes in race and ethnic relations consulting, employee relations and community engagement. Among her varied professional achievements, she has planned and executed countywide community engagement and community dialogue projects with difficult-to-reach communities for the Children’s Home Society, Florida Network of Youth and Family Services, and the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, among others. She has also designed and delivered workshops on youth violence prevention, disproportionate minority contact, and the portrayal of minorities in the media. Cheives’ robust record of community service includes the Palm Beach County Criminal Justice Commission, where she is a past chair and the current co-chair of the Community Engagement Task Force. She served on West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio’s transition team, chairing neighborhood improvement and community outreach. Cheives served on the National Board of the Institute of Community Peace in Washington, D.C., and is currently on the board of The Lord’s Place in Palm Beach County and the governing board of St. Mary’s Medical Center. She is the past president of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc., West Palm Beach Chapter, and the chair of the Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church Social Justice Ministry. Cheives is an alumna of Leadership Palm Beach County, class of 2002. She was awarded the 2021 Dorothy Height Racial Justice Award by the YWCA of Palm Beach County and the Executive Women of the Palm Beaches 2023 Women in Leadership Private Sector Award.

www.palmbeachstate.edu/mlk