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

A. Philip Randolph Boulevard is the business corridor of the historic Eastside. After a race riot in 1969, businesses fled and the community suffered from longterm under investment from the public and private sectors. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

Travis Williams | Jacksonville Daily Record

Patrick Edmond says his grandfather, William "Buster" Ford, was a man who brought light into dark places. During a rededication of Buster Ford Checkerboard Park on Thursday, May 22, 2025, Edmond said his grandfather had faith in God, faith in people and faith in community change. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

Alice Kimbrough has owned the Honey Dripper House since 2008. She is an Eastside native who started the business as a way to supplement her teaching income. It has grown big enough to form a partnership with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp baseball club. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

Renovation is beginning on EverBank Stadium. | Casmira Harrison, Jacksonville Today

Columbia Ventures Development Manager Ryan Akin says more than 350,000 work hours went into renovating the Union Terminal Warehouse. The 330,000-square-foot building was repurposed as part of a $72 million renovation. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

Nigelle Kohn is the executive director of Florida Avenue Main Street, a new nonprofit meant to connect residents, business owners and property owners on the Eastside with the wider Jacksonville community. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

The Jacksonville Jaguars have proposed the team and city share the cost of renovating EverBank Stadium. | Jacksonville Jaguars

Ameris Bank Director of Community Lending, Clyde Anderson, left, greets LISC Jacksonville Executive Director Irvin "PeDro" Cohen during a reception Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. Ameris awarded LISC Jacksonville $50,000 for its Project Boots program. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

The Jacksonville Melanin Market held its Black History 365 Parade and Celebration on March 3, 2024, along A. Philip Randolph Boulevard on Jacksonville’s Eastside. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

Barbara Robertson has lived on the Eastside for nearly 50 years. She says the Restore, Repair and Resilience program has transformed her home on Jessie Street. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

Ameris Bank mortgage officer Tamonica Mike outlines the Ameris Choice program in front of more than 75 people inside Somerset Academy in the Highlands community during a March 14, 2024 community meeting. Ameris Bank introduced the Ameris Choice program in January as part of a consent order the bank agreed to with the U.S. Department of Justice following the latter's acusation the bank redlined in Black and Hispanic communities in Jacksonville. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

Eartha White with male patients and hospital staff on a ward at Mercy Hospital, 1449 Milnor Street, Jacksonville, Florida. May 1958? Handwritten on back: Mercy Hospital. Circa 1958. T2-598

City Council member Ju'Coby Pittman applauds a $2 million pilot program that will provide down payment assistance for home buyers in Duval County on Thursday, March 7, 2024, in Jacksonville's Talleyrand neighborhood. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

The Kerr-McGee Superfund site is along the St. Johns River and Talleyrand Avenue. | Multistate Environmental Response Trust

The menu at One Foxy Lady Cafe features a vegan sandwich, breakfast gyro, grits and vegan sausage combination as well as an anti-inflammatory drink. The dishes were created by Jacksonville native Shandon Benjamin Fox. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

The Jacksonville Eastside has been accepted to the National Register of Historic Places. | LIFT JAX

The Jacksonville Armada defeated Miami United FC in the first round of the U.S. Open Cup on Thursday, March 23, 2023 at Hodges Stadium. (Photo by Will Brown, Official Florida FC)

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland visited Jacksonville on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today

Grass is mowed Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023, at A. Philip Randolph Park. | Steven Ponson, WJCT News 89.9