Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonville consolidated in 1968.
Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a U.S. non-governmental, and nonprofit organization which seeks to build affordable housing. It was founded in 1976 by couple Millard and Linda Fuller. The international operational headquarters are located in Americus, Georgia, United States, with the administrative headquarters located in Atlanta. As of 2023, Habitat for Humanity operates in more than 70 countries.
In the United States, the number of homeless people on a given night in January 2022 was 582,462 according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Annual federal HUD reports contradict private state and local reports where homelessness is shown to have increased each year since 2014 across several major American cities, with 40 percent increases noted in 2017 and in 2019.
The city of Jacksonville, Florida, began to grow in the late 18th century as Cow Ford, settled by British colonists. Its major development occurred in the late nineteenth century, when it became a winter vacation destination for tourists from the North and Midwest. Its development was halted or slowed by the Great Fire of 1901, the Florida Land Bust of the 1920s, and the economic woes of the 1960s and 70s. Since the late 20th century, the city has experienced steady growth, with a new federal building constructed in downtown in 2003.
The Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts (JCPA) is a performing arts center located in Jacksonville, Florida. Situated along the Riverbank, the venue is known as the First Coast’s "premiere riverfront entertainment facility". Originally opening in 1962, the facility was renovated beginning in 1995 until 1997; with a grand re-opening on February 8, 1997. The center consists of three venues: a theatre; concert hall and recital hall. It is home to the Jacksonville Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the FSCJ Artist Series.
T. Edward "Ed" Austin Jr. was an American politician and attorney. He served as mayor of Jacksonville, Florida from 1991 to 1995. He also served as the first Public Defender for Florida's Fourth Judicial Circuit from 1963 to 1968, and served as State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit from 1969 to 1972 and again from 1974 to 1991. Austin was a Democrat for most of his career, but switched parties to become a Republican during his term as mayor, becoming the first Republican to serve in that position since the Reconstruction era.
The Better Jacksonville Plan is a growth management plan implemented by the city of Jacksonville, Florida. It was the signature project of Mayor John Delaney. It was approved by Jacksonville voters on September 5, 2000. Lex Hester was a key advisor to Delaney on the $2.25 billion package of projects, pushing for the inclusion of a new downtown library, then serving on the team of top administrators charged with making the far-reaching plan work. The BJP was codified as Section 761 of Jacksonville's Code of Ordinances and administered by the City of Jacksonville, the JEA, and the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, in cooperation with the Florida Department of Transportation. A Sunset provision will terminate the half-penny sales tax used as part of funding the program, to be completed around 2010, no later than 2030.
The Carling, formerly known as the Carling Hotel and Hotel Roosevelt, is a historic building in Jacksonville, Florida, United States built in 1925. It is located at 31 West Adams Street in Downtown Jacksonville. As its former names indicates it was originally a hotel, and was used for that purpose until 1964; it currently serves as a residential building.
Lewis Alexander Hester, III was a public administrator in Jacksonville, Florida. He "was the consummate no-nonsense administrator, the very best in his field," according to M. C. Harden III, past chairman of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, influential in designing the city government of Jacksonville and managing it through the terms of three of Jacksonville's mayors. He served as the county Manager of Broward and Orange County and as City Manager of Duval County. He was largely responsible for the Blueprint for Consolidation which was a guide for cities all over the United States.
The Jessie Ball duPont Center is a nonprofit complex in downtown Jacksonville, Florida. The building served as the main branch of the Jacksonville Public Library system from 1965 until 2005, when it was replaced by the current facility. The library was named for W. Haydon Burns, who served as Mayor of Jacksonville for fifteen years and also served two years as Governor of Florida. The Haydon Burns Library replaced the Jacksonville Free Public Library, which was built in 1905 and designed by Henry John Klutho of New York City. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed the building on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places.
Baptist Health (Jacksonville) is a faith-based, non-profit health system comprising 7 hospitals with 1,168 beds, a cancer center, four satellite emergency departments and more than 200 patient access points of care, including 50 primary care offices located throughout northeast Florida and southeast Georgia. The headquarter is in Jacksonville, Florida.
Claude J. Yates, was a Jacksonville business executive in the 1960s who is known as the Father of Jacksonville's consolidation.
Wolfson Children's Hospital is a nationally ranked, non-profit, pediatric acute care hospital located in Jacksonville, Florida. It has 281 beds and is the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of the University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville and the Florida branch of the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine. The hospital is a part of the Baptist Health system, and the only children's hospital in the system. It provides comprehensive pediatric specialties and subspecialties to pediatric patients throughout Jacksonville and the North Florida region, but also treats some adults that would be better treated under pediatric care. Wolfson Children's Hospital also features the only Florida Department of Health-designated pediatric trauma referral center in Jacksonville, Florida, and the only American College of Surgeons-verified, Level 1 pediatric trauma center in the region.
The Jacksonville Consolidation was the city-county consolidation of the governments of the City of Jacksonville and Duval County, Florida. It was effected on October 1, 1968.
River City Renaissance was a $235 million bond issue in 1993 by the city of Jacksonville, Florida which funded urban renewal in some of downtown's most rundown sections.
James Weldon Johnson Park is a 1.54-acre (6,200 m2) public park in Downtown Jacksonville, Florida. Originally a village green, it was the first and is the oldest park in the city.
Hubbard House is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 entity, established in 1976, that was the first domestic violence shelter in Florida. Hubbard House is a certified, comprehensive domestic violence center and is a nationally recognized leader in domestic violence intervention. It provides programs and services to more than 5,000 women, children, and men annually in Duval and Baker counties. Hubbard House also provided a victim advocate in Nassau County beginning in 2000. The county later established Micah's Place.
The Clara White Mission (CWM) is a non-profit organization in Jacksonville, Florida, USA, founded by Dr. Eartha M. M. White that advocates for the poor and provides social services. According to its website, "The Clara White Mission is to reduce homelessness through advocacy, housing, job training and employment by partnering with business and local community resources." CWM has created an extensive and diverse network of public and private funding sources.
Second Harvest North Florida (SHNF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Jacksonville, Florida, that performs food rescue and redistribution to partner agencies in one quarter of Florida's 67 counties. The charitable organization has been active for over 30 years.
Jacksonville, Florida