Christine Rupp

Christine Rupp is the Director of Dade Heritage Trust. She joined the organization in November of 2015 and has made public awareness, advocacy and education a priority as the organization celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2022. In addition to integrating new educational programs, and an affordable housing initiative, she has developed a relationship with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the City of Miami, Miami-Dade County and a host of like-minded non-profit organizations to ensure preservation plays a meaningful role in addressing the various issues facing Miami. Due to the new focus of the organization and its outreach efforts, The Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau also recently named the Dade Heritage Trust headquarters an Official Heritage Tourism Visitors Center.

Prior to joining Dade Heritage Trust, Ms. Rupp was the Director of the Coral Gables Museum, which opened to the public in October 2011 after more than 10 years in the making. She joined the Museum as Acting Executive Director and rose to Director in 2013. Rupp was responsible for the Museum’s programming, operating budget, fundraising, marketing and retail operations. Chris is an avid cyclist, who works tirelessly to promote the benefits of bicycling as a means to get to work and forpleasure.  She leads Dade Heritage Trust’s Urban Miami Bike Tours each month and, she has partnered with Bike Walk Coral Gables and the City of Coral Gables to program bike-friendly events such as the annual Coral Gables Bike Day.

Under her leadership, Dade Heritage Trust has:

• Partnered with the National Trust for Historic Preservation to declare Little Havana a National
  Treasure and developed a master plan for the neighborhood, working with several community and non-profit partners
• Created numerous public programs and partnership initiatives to promote the places that matter in Miami-Dade County, including the preservation of naturally occurring affordable housing
• Developed a new educational program for all K-8 Miami-Dade County students, Historic Places, Green Spaces funded by the Peacock Foundation, the Kirk Foundation, the Batchelor Foundation, the Dunspaugh Dalton Foundation, the Kislak Family Foundation and the
  Society of Architectural Historians
• Produced historic building surveys for the Miami neighborhoods of Overtown, Silver Bluff,
  Shenandoah, Coconut Grove, Westmoreland, Grove Park and Brownsville – funded by grants form the State of Florida, the National Park Service and private foundations
• Received major grants from the Miami Foundation for the Public Space Challenge and Resiliency efforts in our community

In addition to her involvement in the South Florida community, she also owns a family farmhouse and barns on 5 acres in Ohio which she is restoring to become a working farm.