Ending poverty in the city.
Over the next three years, they founded the nonprofit LIFT JAX, hired a president and picked a place to start the historic Eastside and began ongoing conversations with residents. This year they are seeking funding and partnerships to get the work underway, using a model called Purpose Built Communities, which strengthens neighborhoods through mixed-income housing, cradle to grave education, community wellness and financial vitality for residents. Our goals are really the community’s goals, said LIFT JAX board chairman Darnell Smith, market president, North Florida Region for Florida Blue. Our job is to listen to what residents and community leaders tell us and then identify the partnerships and resources required to bring those desires to life. … We will never do work to a community, we will always do work with a community and the people who call that community home, have a business there or have a connection and desire to s