Dear Honorable Members of the Special Committee on the Community Benefits Agreement,
Since 2017, The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida has invested in supporting neighborhoods as our key community leadership initiative. As part of this focus, the Foundation and our donors have made a number of major grants to support resident-led improvements in the Historic Eastside, adjacent to the sports and entertainment district, where we are seeing significant progress. We are optimistic that the neighborhood’s vision for itself can be realized through economic growth that preserves the character and identity of the neighborhood, as well as enhances the quality of life for longtime residents.
The Community Foundation is proud to serve as our region’s philanthropic anchor institution, inspired by the Greek meaning of philanthropy, as “love for humanity.” Because of the diversity of interests of our donors, who have established more than 720 charitable funds with us, we are proud to support a wide variety of transformational efforts across our region. We believe philanthropy can help build a better community, but we also know that philanthropy alone cannot solve our community’s biggest challenges, or capitalize on our biggest opportunities. Multi-sectoral problems require multi-sectoral solutions. As such, we are encouraged by the Community Benefits Agreement between the City of Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Jaguars. We believe it would help advance our goals of improving the quality of life for all Jacksonville residents, especially those whose families have lived just blocks away from the stadium for generations.
One thing that makes Jacksonville special is our love for our community, and our belief that we can make a bigger difference together than any one of us can alone. The CBA offers an opportunity to create pathways to economic self-sufficiency for all of Jacksonville’s residents to become a community where everyone can thrive. This pursuit is not separate from our investments in the Jacksonville Jaguars, but integral to our overarching goal of creating a city that fulfills its potential.
Sincerely,
