Today on “First Coast Connect,” our weekly Media Roundtable included Florida Politics reporter A.G. Gancarski and WJCT’s Ryan Benk and Kevin Meerschaert (01:11). The Humana Foundation’s Laura Nolan and University of Florida professor and endowed chairwoman in Health Disparities Research Carolyn Tucker (38:20) discussed the foundation’s recent $444,000 donation to four Jacksonville nonprofit organizations. Finally, Rethreaded founder Kristin Keen and Wayne Bailey (46:22) with The River City Chorus talked about the “Sing a New Song” concert series to benefit Rethreaded.
Media Roundtable
Our panel discussed State Attorney Melissa Nelson’s decisions to drop dozens of criminal cases that relied on the testimony of recently arrested police officers and to maintain a list of officers who might be a problem in court. They also discussed former U.N. Ambassador Nancy Soderberg’s announcing a run for Congress. Also, long lines of hopeful applicants crowded recent Amazon job fairs, and more problems have cropped up for the Regency Mall.
Humana Foundation
A new, faith-based project spearheaded by UF Health is designed to improve the health of predominantly black communities on the First Coast by meeting participants in church. It’s one of four initiatives that the Humana Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Humana, is providing with a total of $444,000 in grants. The others are the University of North Florida, We Care Jacksonville, and the YMCA.
‘Sing a New Song’
"Sing A New Song" is a program of contemporary choral music that energizes and edifies the human spirit. It reminds us that true love is one of the important aspects of each of our lives and that hope and a new beginning are always possible. The River City Chorus Concert Series begins 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Riverside Park Methodist Church. It continues 7:30 p.m. Friday at Southside Baptist Church, 8 p.m. Saturday, July 22, at Island View Baptist Church, and 3 p.m. Sunday, July 23, at Arlington Baptist Church. After each performance, the audience will be asked to make donations to Rethreaded, a nonprofit that helps survivors of human trafficking.
Kevin Meerschaert can be reached at kmeerschaert@wjct.org, 904-358-6334 or on Twitter at @KMeerschaertJax.
