The next step to providing wrap-around services for Jacksonville’s unhoused community is underway. Sulzbacher, Northeast Florida’s largest homeless resource provider, broke ground on the $28 million development of Phase 2A for the group’s Enterprise Village earlier this month. The project, located in Northwest Jacksonville, is the first step toward moving the group’s services out of Downtown, where it has been operating since 1995. Phase 1, which features 100 housing units and apartments for previously unhoused men, is nearly 70% completed. Officials say Phase 2 will include health clinics in collaboration with Mayo Clinic, a Goodwill job training facility, culinary training services and more. Planning the 17-acre campus took nearly a decade, and construction is projected to conclude by the end of 2028. We sit down with Sulzbacher’s CEO and a board member to discuss the importance of getting the project over the finish line and what it means to move the group’s core services out of Downtown.
Guests:
- Cindy Funkhouser, CEO of Sulzbacher
- Whitney Meyer, Sulzbacher board member and senior vice president and chief community officer for the Jaguars
Candidate for Florida House District 14
Rhian Tutson, a Democratic challenger for Florida’s 14th House District, is looking to unseat Democratic incumbent Kimberly Daniels in the Aug. 18 Primary. The former Florida Highway Patrol trooper, Florida Department of Children and Families investigator and current investigator for the Duval County Public Schools is running on a platform centered around “assurance, accountability and affordability.” Tutson, a Jacksonville native, outlined several of her priorities in 11 acts she drafted and says she plans to file on Day 1. Some of her priorities include criminal justice reform, mandated paid parental leave, $65,000 minimum salary for educators, solar energy investments and more. Florida’s 14th House District encompasses different areas of Duval County, including the portions of the Northside, Downtown and Westside.
First Coast Connect is covering a range of local races and election-related topics between now and Nov. 3. You can find detailed information about upcoming elections, including information about candidates and ballot initiatives in your specific district, at the nonpartisan League of Women Voters website Vote411.org.
Guest: Rhian Tutson, Democratic candidate, Florida House of Representatives, District 14
Ripple effect
This weekend, three generations of Deadheads will gather for the 31st annual China Cat Sunflower Festival, a free three-day event commemorating Jerry Garcia, The Grateful Dead’s frontman whose improvisational style helped define the jam band movement. The festivities kick off at 4:20 p.m. daily and will feature a lineup of local and regional bands, a community drum circle and a group sing-along of the band’s song Ripple, which centers on spiritual reflection. We speak to the festival’s organizer and a longtime performer about why they work to keep Jerry Garcia’s music and spirit alive.
Guests:
- Brenda Star Walker, organizer, China Cat Sunflower Festival
- Arvid Smith, performer, China Cat Sunflower Festival
Topics and guests subject to change.