{"id":217978,"date":"2026-04-03T21:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T21:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/217978\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T21:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T21:47:11","slug":"jacksonvilles-first-hispanic-outreach-coordinator-steps-down-takes-on-new-role-with-phoenix-arts-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/217978\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville\u2019s first Hispanic outreach coordinator steps down, takes on new role with Phoenix Arts District"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Yanira \u201cYaya\u201d Cardona<\/a>, the first Hispanic Outreach Coordinator for the City of Jacksonville, is leaving her post after two years of service to become General Manager of the Phoenix Arts District.<\/p>\n

\u201cServing as the first Hispanic Outreach Coordinator for the City of Jacksonville has been more than a title \u2014 it has been a responsibility I carried with deep pride, purpose, and heart,\u201d Cardona wrote on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RELATED: How this Puerto Rican woman became the driving force behind events celebrating the Hispanic community in Jacksonville<\/a><\/p>\n

In her resignation letter to Jacksonville Mayor Deegan, Cardona recalled helping organize town halls connecting Deegan with the city\u2019s Hispanic community even before the role officially existed \u2014 back when Deegan was still on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember the promises you made about diversifying boards, creating new opportunities, and building a city that truly represents all of its people,\u201d Cardona wrote in her resignation letter. \u201cTo not only witness but be part of that journey as Jacksonville elected its first female Mayor was an experience of a lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hispanic Outreach Coordinator position was created under Mayor Deegan, who said it was designed to connect Jacksonville\u2019s growing Hispanic population to city services and civic life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am truly grateful for Yaya\u2019s service to our community,\u201d Deegan said following Cardona\u2019s resignation. \u201cToday, the community is more connected to the city than ever before because of Yaya\u2019s dedication to the work of making every voice heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

During her two years of service, Cardona helped small businesses through the Jacksonville Small and Emerging Business program, known as JSEB, supported HealthLink Jax, organized town halls and helped build Unidos Jax, a space celebrating Hispanic culture. <\/p>\n

Cardona\u2019s tenure was not without controversy. In January 2026, she was briefly placed on administrative leave<\/a> after posting a video from her office, addressing reports of increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, activity across Northeast Florida. <\/p>\n

In the social media video, Cardona can be heard asking families to have a plan in case they get arrested and to \u201cstay home\u201d if there\u2019s no need to go outside.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you get pulled over, as much as we want to huff and puff, please comply,\u201d Cardona said in the video.<\/p>\n

Deegan defended the content of the video while calling the situation an \u201cunfortunate distraction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was nothing she said that was illegal,\u201d Deegan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason she was put on administrative leave because we have a policy in the city. We have a mayor who is the spokesperson for the city, and we have people who follow policy that if you are going to create any social media content. […] that can be misconstrued as coming from the mayor, that has to come through me or our communications office,\u201d Deegan said.<\/p>\n

In February, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier<\/a> announced that he sent a \u201ccriminal subpoena\u201d to Deegan\u2019s administration, saying one of the city\u2019s employees may have impeded immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n

The request specifically sought work-related emails, texts, and documents from Cardona containing words such as \u201cNazi,\u201d \u201cGestapo,\u201d \u201cstormtrooper,\u201d or \u201cterrorize.\u201d<\/p>\n

News4JAX reviewed the documents<\/a> submitted by the city in response to the subpoena and found no mention of those words in the documents.<\/p>\n

Cardona\u2019s last day as Hispanic Outreach Coordinator is April 17.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Cardona said she hopes to one day return to her hometown of Gu\u00e1nica, Puerto Rico, and run for mayor. For now, she\u2019s focused on her new chapter \u2014 and leaving the community with this message: <\/p>\n

\u201cGet involved and don\u2019t ever be afraid to speak up!\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Yanira \u201cYaya\u201d Cardona, the first Hispanic Outreach Coordinator for the City of Jacksonville, is leaving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1039,116,118,117,64070],"class_list":["post-217978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-duval-county","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-yaya-cardona"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}