An investment in a community recovering from tragedy.
The State of Florida is dedicating three million dollars to Northwest Jacksonville after three people were killed at a Dollar General on Kings Road.
Some of the speakers made it clear – Northwest Jacksonville is already seeing the impact from the money.
“On a beautiful day like today, in this spot, it’s hard to remember where all this started just down the street,” said State Representative Wyman Duggan.
Two and a half years after the tragedy, three million dollars is coming to impact the Northwest Jacksonville community as a whole.
“Hundreds of residents moving into sustainable employment,” said Terrance Brisbane with the Beaver Street Enterprise Center. “Millions of pounds of food being distributed to families in need. Hundreds of small businesses strengthened, creating jobs and economic activity.”
A chunk of the money is geared toward workforce development with two training facilities shared they’ve already noticed a difference.
“We have already trained 51 nursing assistants, and we also trained 12 nurses who’ve taken their boards and are now nurses,” said Sharron Marshall with Sharron Nursing Academy.
“We’ve already trained 35 students – flooring, carpentry, electrical, low voltage,” said James Coleman with Workforce Industrial Training. “These are job opportunities in Jacksonville that are high demand right now.”
Council Member Ju’Coby Pittman says another goal for the funds is to bring more businesses to Northwest Jacksonville.
“You see a lot of abandoned buildings in our district,” said Pittman. “We want to make sure we have a driveby appeal for those corridors.”
“Hopefully the good work these great, community organizations are doing will make sure that tragedy will not have occurred in vain,” said Duggan.