A groundbreaking for The Corner at Debs Store was held on Sept. 4, 2024. It's a nonprofit grocery store in the heart of Jacksonville's Eastside on Florida Avenue. A previous Debs Store was operated in the same location for 90 years before it closed in 2011. From left: City Council member Ju'Coby Pittman; Honey Holzendorf; Council member Jimmy Peluso; VyStar CEO Brian Wolfburg; JTA Senior VP Greer Johnson Gillis; Jacksonville Jaguars President Mark Lamping; LIFT JAX COO Travis Williams; Florida Blue market President Tony Jenkins; Joe Debs; Goodwill Industries of North Florida CEO David Rey; city of Jacksonville Chief of Staff Darnell Smith; LIFT JAX CEO David Garfunkel; Historic Eastside CDC President Suzanne Pickett. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on July 23, 2025 at 5:21 pm
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The Eastside has always produced leaders who refuse to wait for permission to build the future.
A.L. Lewis saw neighbors without insurance and built the Afro-American Life Insurance Company. Not for profit, but for protection. A. Philip Randolph learned on these streets that one person’s struggle is everyone’s struggle. Then carried that truth to unite sleeping car porters across the nation. Rev. C.B. Dailey welcomed families to The Oak, historically known as First Baptist Church of Oakland, knowing that Sunday morning faith means Monday morning action.
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This is the Eastside tradition. Service over self. Community over individual gain. Faith in action.
What began as neighbors gathering in a church basement grew into an organized coalition of community leaders negotiating unprecedented investments for this sacred place we call OutEast. We accepted the challenge to do something that had never been done locally—with radical optimism and faith as our only guides. Pastors who’ve shepherded historic congregations, business owners who stayed when leaving was easier, neighbors whose families shaped this community, residents who live with intentionality and believe in advocacy, urban planners and legal experts who brought professional expertise. We came together because we had a legacy to protect and a future to build.
We learned from communities across the country who’d fought these fights and won, then made their victories our own. For 18 months, we organized. Community meetings that stretched eight straight weeks from January through February 2024. We filled City Council chambers with an iconic orange wave of Eastsiders and negotiated the largest Community Benefits Agreement in U.S. professional sports history.
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When early conversations focused investments only near the stadium, we pushed to include all five historic enclaves of our neighborhood: from Oakland to Out 21st. When residents feared development might displace longtime residents, we advocated for anti-displacement protections that would keep our community intact. When the community called for transparency, we built accountability into every decision.
The result: a $115 million community benefits agreement.
From the beginning, the mayor’s office and the Jaguars welcomed our collaboration to ensure this moment was different. Partners across the political spectrum listened intently, toured the neighborhood to see the needs up close and passed historic legislation.
Walk Van Buren Street in the evening and witness what steady hands can build. Houses where elderly homeowners sleep soundly, part of 93 restorations across our neighborhood. The reopened Debs Store, bright with families choosing fresh produce. Professional signage marking businesses whose owners finally have the support decades of service have earned.
Behind these changes lies deeper work. Banking services have returned. Energy costs stay manageable for seniors. We’ve processed 653 heirs property referrals citywide, many from the Eastside, ensuring families keep homes that represent generations of wealth-building.
This means Eastside families hold onto the homes their parents and grandparents built and benefit from new opportunities in their own backyard. Their grandchildren get job training. Historic streets see investment for revitalization. Local businesses stay open so neighbors don’t choose between groceries and healthcare.
Democracy is loud and imperfect. We wouldn’t have it any other way. But democracy demands people willing to organize, to build, to act.
A.L. Lewis. A. Philip Randolph. Rev. C.B. Dailey. These leaders would recognize today’s coalition as the natural evolution of their visions for the Eastside. That vision is becoming reality.
The Eastside doesn’t just endure. It leads. It always has. This community benefits agreement proves what happens when a community knows its history and organizes not for what it can get, but for what it knows it deserves.
This is who we are. This is who we have always been. Our ancestors built the foundation. We are building the future.
Together Eastside Coalition members:
- Brandie Stallings – resident, educational leader
- Honey Holzendorf – legacy resident, community advocate
- Pastor Christopher McKee – Pastor, First Baptist Church of Oakland
- Ariane Randolph – resident, community advocate
- Dana Miller – business owner
- Suzanne Pickett – resident, President & CEO HECDC
- Avery McKnight – legacy resident, business owner
- A. Michelle Kimbrough – resident, business owner
- Ennis Davis – urban Planner
- Adrienne Burke – Urban Planner
- Ivy Henderson – resident, landscape architect
- Elaine Ford – legacy resident, community advocate
- Sherika Carter – legacy resident, property owner
- Daniel Nunn – legal counsel
- David Garfunkel – community advocate
- Travis Williams – legacy resident, president & CEO, LIFT JAX
