Mayor Donna Deegan, center, speaks with students at Kreative Minds Academy in Jacksonville's Garden City neighborhood before awarding books as part of a literacy initiative funded by a $1 million gift from the Gate Foundation. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on January 9, 2026 at 4:20 pm
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Two Jacksonville mayors walked into a Garden City preschool on Friday morning to tout the benefits of early literacy.
The 4-year olds from Kreative Minds Academy sat quietly, as long as they could, as they received books about a secret seahorse, birds, and a moose and 20 mice.
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The books were gifts that were part of a “Mayor’s Book Club” initiative conjured by Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration, funded in part by a $1 million gift from the Gate Foundation and provided by Georgia-based nonprofit Ferst Readers.
Gate Petroleum CEO John Peyton says he was inspired to see the Deegan administration wanted early literacy to serve as a cornerstone of its platform. When Peyton was Jacksonville’s mayor, he identified literacy as a priority of his administration and funded those programs through the Jacksonville Journey.
“We regrouped at Gate Petroleum and the Gate Foundation and said ‘Look, maybe we should put our flag in the ground with something that we know makes a difference and no one claimed it. We think we can move the needle,’” Peyton said. “Partnering with the city leverages our resources (and) makes them more effective. Having a mayor that’s enthusiastic and making it a top priority is inspiring.”
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Improving Duval County literacy
Duval County lags behind its urban peers and the state as a whole when it comes to preparing children for kindergarten.
Local education, policy and political leaders have identified reading campaigns as a way to prepare children for kindergarten. It has also been viewed as a way to improve Duval County’s third grade reading proficiency.
Since the Florida Department of Education required kindergarten students to take the Star Early Literacy Test during the 2022-23 academic year, kindergarteners at the four schools near Kreative Minds Academy have not exceeded the statewide percentage for kindergarten readiness.
In the 2024-25 academic year, the most recent year for which information is available, 19.5% of students at Garden City Elementary were considered kindergarten-ready by the Florida Department of Education. At Highlands Elementary, that figure was 27.3%. At Biscayne Elementary, 41.8% of students were kindergarten ready, while only 43.5% were at Oceanway Elementary.
‘Kreative’ passion for students
Sequoia Williams is passionate about ensuring children have access to quality education, because she watched her grandmother own and operate Kids Point of View Learning Center. That’s why staff at Kreative Minds introduces preschoolers to phonetical awareness and other literacy techniques when they are 3.
“My elementary principal used to say ‘The more you read, the more you know. The more you know, the more you grow.’” Williams recalled from her time at Reynolds Lane Elementary. “There’s so much in books. I believe that if we embed that at this young age, as they grow, they will continue to have a love for reading. My love of reading started in elementary.”
Williams says she loved Dr. Seuss’ Oh, the Places You’ll Go as a child because it led her to envision what is possible.
Williams founded Kreative Minds in 2013 with her grandmother, Audrey Williams. Together, they have operated inside their location in the Garden City neighborhood since 2014.
Audrey Williams has owned and operated preschools in Jacksonville since 1996. This was the first time in her career that Jacksonville’s mayor visited her preschool to preach literacy.
“It means a lot,” Audrey Williams says. “I feel Black centers are overlooked and (people) feel we are not giving the kids what they need. It’s just the opposite. We have been nationally accredited since 2006.”
Kreative Minds Academy is one of 233 preschools in Florida that have earned the Accredited+ designation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Only nine other preschools in Duval County have similar accreditation.
Access to books
The Mayor’s Book Club initiative will provide one book a month for a calendar year to 4-year-olds across Duval County. Friday, Deegan said she wanted to start on the Northside in order to show her commitment to every child in Jacksonville.
“We are starting this program in organizations and communities that where really strong attention is needed,” Deegan says. “Then, we’re going to let everybody in Jacksonville who has a 4-year-old sign up to receive these free books. … We’re starting here and making sure that we’re working with day care centers and organizations where you have children where we need that intensive help in terms of literacy.”
The books come with a newsletter so parents and caretakers can read alongside the emerging readers. The Kreative Minds students will be exposed to words like “variety,” “delicious,” “moose,” “radiant” and “unique” through the books Ferst Readers provided.
“I believe it will benefit my students tremendously,” Sequoia Williams says. “When you have people like the mayor, leaders and officials from the city that come in and take their time out to dedicate to the students, it shows they care; it shows they are passionate; and it shows they care about (the students’) future.”
