Our story

It started with a walk and a trash bag.

CivicBestie is the next chapter of patricia4miami: technology for public good that gives everyday people a real voice in their community, turning what you notice on your block into action.

What began as me picking up trash after work grew into a movement reaching over 1.7 million South Florida residents who care about the streets they actually live on. CivicBestie puts that same energy in anyone's hands.

Patricia picking up litter with a trash bag

No cap

You know Gen Z comes with the receipts.

Two bags of bottles, cans, and packaging collected on the grass next to two discarded shoes

A bag of bottles and cans collected along the road with a litter grabber tool

A bag of bottles and cans picked up off the sidewalk

Bottles, cans, and food wrappers collected on the grass

A bag of litter collected next to a storm drain

A bag of trash collected next to a dumped hubcap

Bottles and cans laid out after being collected on a walk

An illegally posted rent sign and litter cleared from the grass

A bag of trash collected next to a shopping bag on the sidewalk

A bag of litter collected on an evening walk through the neighborhood

Bottles and cans gathered on flattened cardboard by the curb

Bags of litter collected from under a hedge

Bottles, cans, and a discarded sign cleared from the sidewalk

Packaging and litter bagged up off the ground

A full bag of litter collected at a busy intersection at sunset

Two bags of bottles and cans ready to be recycled

A bag of bottles and cans collected in a parking lot

Two bags of cans and bottles collected under a tree

A bag of cups, bottles, and cans next to a grabber tool on the grass

A bag of litter collected next to a discarded handbag

Here is what I noticed along the way: people are not civically disengaged. The care is there, and the willingness is there. What wears them down is the process itself: long, monotonous, and never really built to be used. Residents are asked to hunt down the right department, sit through phone trees, and fill out forms that seem to go nowhere.

When speaking up about your own neighborhood takes that much patience, what looks like apathy is really just exhaustion. CivicBestie exists to close that gap, taking something that used to eat up hours and making it take minutes instead.

Reporting is only half of it, though, because the part that matters most is what happens next. Residents do not just want to file a complaint and hope; they want to see whether anything actually gets fixed. CivicBestie keeps that visibility front and center. It maps where problems cluster so patterns become impossible to overlook, and treats a reported issue as a tracked issue rather than one quietly marked resolved. Your block, your voice, and finally a way to follow it all the way through.

About Patricia

Built in Miami, for the people who call it home.

I was born and raised in Miami, Florida, in Grapeland Heights. My mother is Cuban and my father is Nicaraguan, both exiles who fled to the United States to escape communism.

I'm a product of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, from Kensington Park Elementary to Young Women's Preparatory Academy. From a young age I was drawn to technology and math. Politics and government were never part of the picture, because “that's for old people.” Or so I thought.

PantherNOW newspaper feature on Patricia's mechanical engineering work at FIU

I went on to complete my undergraduate engineering studies at FIU, where I was taught a foundational engineering principle that shapes my everyday life: when you engineer solutions for the most vulnerable populations, you engineer solutions that work for everyone. It's also known as the curb cut effect.

After FIU, I moved across the country to Los Angeles to complete my graduate engineering studies at the University of Southern California and to keep growing the circular economy company I was building at the time, always fascinated by the idea that we can build tools that benefit society and have a positive impact.

Fulbright Grantee, University College London

One opportunity changed the way I saw civic participation.

After USC, I was given the opportunity of a lifetime: the Fulbright Entrepreneurship Award, one of the highest honors offered by the U.S. Department of State. I thought the award itself would be the highlight. What I left with was worth far more, and something I could never have imagined.

I fulfilled the mission of Fulbright tenfold, improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence.

Big Ben during Patricia's Fulbright experience

Patricia picking up litter in her neighborhood

When I came back from Fulbright, I started taking walks through my own neighborhood, and that is when I noticed my Little Havana community was missing the basics. On walks meant to pick up litter, I would find sidewalks that just ended, bus stops with no trash bins, and exposed electrical wires.

I started posting about what I found, and it became a movement. It taught me that the willingness to participate was never the problem. People wanted in, but the barriers were real, and the tools to fully take part just weren't there. In the last 90 days alone, that story reached 1.7 million of you.

Today, patricia4miami takes its next step with CivicBestie: using technology for public good to give people a voice in their community.

In the press

What people are saying about Patricia.

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