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First Coast Connect

1/03/2017: Financial Resolutions; Frederick Law Olmsted; 'Hidden Figures'

Tuesday on First Coast Connect, we discussed making financial New Year’s resolutions with Cheryl Barnett, senior vice president at First Tennessee Bank. We were joined on the phone by Laurence Cotton who served as principal researcher and consulting producer of the documentary “Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America.” Cotton will be in Jacksonville for a screening followed by a question and answer period of the film next week.

Local Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority members President Willetta Richie and vice president Betty Burney discussed an upcoming screening of the movie “Hidden Figures.” The primary characters depicted in the film were members of the African-American college sorority. 

Financial resolutions
As we are making our New Year resolutions, it is important to make sure the goals we set are achievable and realistic, and that includes your personal finances. Barnett said nearly 40 percent of people have a financial resolution for the new year, and more than 50 percent of those with financial resolutions focus on saving. But it’s easier said than done and most will allow those resolutions fall to the wayside. Barnett said you should be cautious not to set too many or unrealistic financial goals and don’t be afraid to seek advice from financial experts.

Listen to this story on Redux:

Listen to the full interview:

Frederick Law Olmsted

Frederick Law Olmsted was a renowned designer and among the first to regard landscape architecture as a profession and a fine art.

Olmsted co-designed New York’s Central Park, and the U.S. Capitol Grounds, among many other sites. His sons John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Jr. Olmsted designed Jacksonville’s Friendship Park in Riverside.  

“Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America.” The movie screening will take place Jan 10 at 7pm at Sun-Ray cinema. Seating is limited. Reservations can be made at mpaspecialscreening@memparkjax.org.

Hidden Figures

“Hidden Figures” is the story of three African-American women, Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson who worked behind the scenes at NASA, and served as the brains behind the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations.

All three women were members of AKA- Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

The Gamma Rho Omega chapter of AKA in Jacksonville is holding a screening of the movie this Thursday at AMC Regency for more than one hundred of it’s members, family and friends. The screening is sold out but the movie opens nationwide on Friday.

There is also a Go Fund Me page set up in town, to raise enough funds to take 100 local girls to see “Hidden Figures” this month.

One of those girls is 12 year old aspiring astronaut Taylor Richardson… Richardson was one of the youngest kids to be accepted to Space Camp. She is currently a Mars Generation student space ambassador, and in 2016 she was invited to attend the United State of Women summit at the White House.

Producer Kevin Meerschaert can be reached at kmeerschaert@wjct.org, 904-358-6334 or on Twitter at @KMeerschaertJax.

Kevin Meerschaert has left WJCT for new pursuits. He was the producer of First Coast Connect until October of 2018.