Group to address poverty and unemployment in one of it's most distressed minority communities
Celia Miller said the ride means everything. "It's like the birth of new life for the city of Some men and women got a first-hand look at the city from the Ritz Theater in La Villa to Durkeeville. It's a tour Councilwoman Glorious Johnson said was two years in the making. Johnson is hoping to bring some positive attention to some impoverished parts of town. .jpg)
FMCRC Launches Market Based Community Revitalization Initiative For Distressed Inner City Durkeeville/Midwest (Jacksonville)
Bank of America, BB&T, Citi, Fifth Third, JPMorganChase, Regions and Wells Fargo join forces with City of Jacksonville Councilwoman Glorious Johnson and FMCRC to address poverty and unemployment in one of Florida's most distressed minority communities-
FMCRC Chair Al Pina "We applaud these financial institutions for joining us to not only address one of Florida most pressing issues (Poverty/Unemployment in minority communities), but to develop a market based community development model for Florida's inner cities. This initiative will utilize proven models and experts from across the country, including the development of a self sufficient market based community development corporation (modeled after the country's largest and most successful CDC TELACU) that will serve as the master community economic development arm for this community. This community revitalization initiative will not be driven by City Hall, but by the community and the private sector. It is our intention to develop a new inner city redevelopment model that can be shared and replicated throughout Florida."
Click Here For news4jax News Video of Tale of 2 Cities Tour
Bus Ride Meant To Help Restore Areas
Councilwoman Wants To Entice Investors Into Helping Local Neighborhoods
Copyright 2009 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Bankers, Community Leaders, Councilwoman Glorious
Johnson and FMCRC Chair Al Pina
Johnson, along with several other community leaders, toured sections of
The group is pushing to bring more businesses to the areas. Johnson said she wants to entice the potential investors to help restore some of the neighborhoods in the area to what they used to be.
"We had our own grocery stores. We had our own cleaners," Johnson said. "We had every infrastructure you could think about."
Johnson wants to bring new jobs, new industry and new opportunities to the community, but she said the point is to get the community involved from start to finish and to keep the potential investors accountable from the get-go.
"To me, it was an eye-opener to, one, learn a little more about Jacksonville, but even moreso about the plight of the people who are in need," said Rosanna Jacobson, of BB&T Bank, who went on the bus ride.
The tour concluded with Johnson and the bankers coming back to City Hall to come up with some long-term plans.
For long-time resident Eunice Barnam, this is the change she said she's been waiting for for years.
"To actually see the dots being connected and the key people being in place to make it happen was just overjoying," Barnam said.
Miller agrees.
"To return our community being part of the city back to the traditional family, working, safe village it used to be," Miller said.
Coming Soon:
AT&T Florida Credit To Minority Families Review and Survey-Results To Be Forwarded To US Attorney Office (Civil Rights Division)
|
The Coalition's (70+ minority organizations) strategy entails six central programs and projects for Florida's minority communities, families and organizations:
|
|
