JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville City Council was preparing to vote on who would help decide how millions of dollars are spent on the Eastside, and not everyone agreed with the mayor’s picks.
The Eastside Grants Committee, formed in February by a special Council committee, will oversee funding tied to the city’s Community Benefits Agreement with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Under the deal, the city committed $40 million over the next seven years, while the Jaguars pledged additional millions annually for decades — all connected to the “Stadium of the Future” project. The money was expected to support housing, economic development, and community programs on Jacksonville’s Eastside.
The committee had nine seats to fill. Mayor Donna Deegan announced her four nominees: Rochelle Stoddard, Rudolph Jamison Jr., Kim Black, and Ariane Randolph. The Council president was set to appoint four additional members, and the Jaguars would hold one representative seat.
Ariane Randolph, one of the mayor’s nominees, led the LIFT JAX Eastside Project One Health program and had lived in the Eastside community for years.
“Being nominated to be a part of the CBA board or the East Side Grants Committee really is an honor,” Randolph said. “I don’t take it lightly. It’s something serious, and I continue in the work that ancestors before me have started. My grandmother was in this community. I share her address.”
Randolph said she wanted residents to feel the impact of every dollar spent. She pointed to the high vacancy rate along the A. Philip Randolph corridor — also known as Florida Avenue — as one of the most pressing issues.
“Helping to decrease that vacancy rate and increase occupancy is a big part of that feeling,” Randolph said. “When we can create those transformational projects for residents, I think that will be the most impactful.”
Not everyone supported the mayor’s choices. Latavia Harris, vice president of Together Eastside Coalition Inc., said she was concerned the nominees lacked lived experience in the community and were not being properly vetted.
“There’s nobody on that board with a lived experience, and that’s one of the things that we wanted to target — that they have the people who’ve been in the community, who went through the things in the community, who know how to make decisions in the community,” Harris said. “Not just parachuting in figuring I could change the community.”
Harris said her organization planned to formally challenge the nominations.
“We’re going to challenge those picks with facts — and not us being emotional and personal,” Harris said.
News4JAX reached out to CBA subcommittee chair Councilman Raul Arias about where Jacksonville City Council stood on choosing their nominees. He sent the following statement:
Following several meetings and meaningful engagement with our Eastside community, the council voted to move forward with establishing the Community Benefits Agreement Eastside Board, including appointments by both the Mayor and the Council President.
Both the Mayor and Council President have now made their respective appointments, officially allowing the board to begin its work.
This board will play a critical role in overseeing investments and initiatives focused on economic development, affordable housing, workforce support, and addressing homelessness within the Eastside community.
As this is the first year, there is significant work ahead. The board will need to remain flexible and make adjustments as they move forward to ensure the greatest impact.
In our current fiscal year budget, we have allocated $4 million to invest directly into the Eastside community. Now, the priority is for the board to get to work diligently and ensure these funds are deployed effectively to benefit residents.
City Council District 11 - Raul Arias
With Council set to weigh in, who would ultimately shape the future of Eastside funding remained undecided.