DeSantis’ office devotes millions to Northwest Jax job training programs, Boys & Girls Clubs

Sharron Braziel-Marshall stood under a shade tree in her Northwest Jacksonville neighborhood Thursday morning as she described how her nursing career took her from Grand Park to across the world.

Braziel-Marshall is a traveling nurse who founded Sharron Nursing Academy in 2021 to provide similar opportunities for people who aspire to become a certified nursing assistant, licensed practical nurse or registered nurse.

Sharron Nursing Academy and other Northwest Jacksonville organizations that boost trade skills received a total of $3 million in Department of Children and Families grants, awarded by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Office and distributed by the Beaver Street Enterprise Center.

Rep. Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville, and Jacksonville City Council member Ju’Coby Pittman announced the funding Thursday morning in Grand Park. Most of the dollars have already been awarded.

Investment in the future

Braziel-Marshall says the funding will allow her nursing academy to train 60 additional people this year, a 15% increase.

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“A lot of people in our neighborhood, they don’t have any money, and that’s the truth,” Braziel-Marshall said. “It definitely helps in (reducing) the barrier for them when they come in…The only thing they have to get is, maybe, a uniform. Their fingerprints (costs) are covered. The testing is covered. Their costs are covered, their books are covered, everything is covered for them.”

Grand Park is in the 32209 ZIP code, where the 38.6% of residents who live in poverty is more than thrice the statewide rate. The median household income ($30,514) is less than half the statewide figure.

Residents in 32209, which also includes New Town, also have a higher employment rate than the rest of Duval County and Florida. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the most prevalent jobs that neighborhood residents do have — retail, educational services and social assistance — are not high-earning.

James Coleman Sr. has sought to fix that.

Coleman’s work as chief executive of Workforce Industrial Training in Northwest Jacksonville also drew the attention of the leaders at Beaver Street Enterprise Center.

Workforce Industrial Training has used funding from both the private and public sectors to provide cost-free training programs for people interested in carpentry, flooring, low-voltage electrical work and other trades.

Coleman said Thursday the funding received from the governor’s office in February provided the resources to train 35 people in two months.

“We have a better idea and are hands-on (about) what the community, actually, needs. With their positive feedback we were able to find the thing they wanted the most was quick-training that gave them nationally recognized certifications and gave them the opportunity to become immediately employed,” Coleman says.

In addition, the Beaver Street Enterprise Center received $2 million to allocate to organizations that serve five under-resourced ZIP codes in Jacksonville. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida received $1 million to go toward its work serving nearly 3,000 Duval County children daily, mostly in the 32209, 32208, 32206, 32219 and 32254 ZIP codes.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida CFO Greg Hayes tells Jacksonville Today the grant will help replace three vans in its fleet and help purchase a food truck for its Springfield Teen Center to provide job training and an introduction to entrepreneurship. The state dollars will also enhance staffing at its 14 clubs across the five ZIP codes

A response to tragedy

Rep. Duggan said he worked with the governor’s office on the grants after he was inspired to provide community support following the mass shooting at a Dollar General in Grand Park in August 2023.

On Aug. 26, 2023, according to police, a white supremacist from Clay County traveled to Jacksonville with the intention to kill Black people. The shooter killed a rideshare driver whose family was awaiting her call, a young father who was shopping with a friend and a teenager who was working his first job after high school.

Their names were Angela Michelle Carr, Jerrald Gallion and Anolt “AJ” Laguerre Jr.

The following afternoon, hundreds attended a vigil at a nearby park.

Duggan says he was there. He held Thursday’s press conference in the same park, where his press team used an inscribed bench honoring the victims as a staging area. A poster showing how the $3 million will be invested leaned against the memorial.

He says the August 2023 vigil spurred him to try to provide funding for an oft-forgotten part of Jacksonville that is four miles away from his Florida House District 12, which includes portions of Duclay, San Jose, Ortega, San Marco and Mandarin.

“We made sure those dollars go directly into the local organizations that already know what’s needed and are already doing the critical hard work,” Duggan says. “That’s who should be making the call. This money stays home. And, the people who know our neighborhoods best are deciding where it goes.”

The funding announcement, however, caught several community organizations and resident groups that focus on Grand Park off guard. Several neighborhood leaders told Jacksonville Today on Thursday they had been unaware of the funding opportunity.

They included Grand Park Community Association President Darlene Neal, who said the neighborhood desires a grocery store and health care facility and called it “heartbreaking” to learn the $3 million investment had already been allocated.

“Now, I have to go out and tell them the money has been (decided),” Neal said. “I was notified this morning. …We learned (about the funding opportunity) after the fact.”