Daily Record Financial News &
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 69 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Pursuing an end to train backups Grant would fund switching system
A Promise Zone to Health event offered free screenings for families as part of the efforts being made through San Antonio’s designation as a federal Promise Zone.
Special to the Daily Record
By Max Marbut Staff Writer
A promising possibility
City hoping to win designation to help poor areas By David Chapman Staff Writer Northwest Jacksonville could use an influx of caring and capital. Downtown, Old Arlington, North Jacksonville and parts of the Southside could, too. Mayor Lenny Curry and a host of community partners are trying to show a commitment — they’re competing for a designation that would provide a leg up for important federal dollars. It’s called the Promise Zone Initiative, announced by President Barack Obama in 2013 as a way to revitalize communities through collaborative working. Just 20 cities, rural areas and tribal regions will earn the distinction and the benefits that come with it. Thirteen have been picked the past two years. It’s last call for Jacksonville and others to try. The designation isn’t a grant. It doesn’t
provide guarantees. But it’s helped those previously selected to receive more than $100 million in funding for cities like San Antonio and Los Angeles that were part of the original five communities. “This is pretty big,” said Kerri Stewart, Cur- Stewart ry’s chief of staff who has been working with the city’s Office of Grants & Compliance for months on Jacksonville’s application. Big not only for possibility but for the effort that’s gone into it. It’s been a five-month process that’s required wholesale buy-in from the public and private sectors. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Duval County Public Schools, various city departments and programs like the Jacksonville
Journey are just a few partners on the public side. The private side includes organizations like the JAX Chamber, Local Initiatives Support Corp., Baptist Health and area colleges that have pledged support. A Leadership Council for the Promise Zone Partnership has almost 30 members with ties to nonprofits, education, family services, business development and crime prevention. Those organizations already are working toward solving Jacksonville’s problems, Stewart said. The effort through the designation is to ensure they’re working together. The application requires such buy-in among other guidelines. The affected area must be contiguous, have an overall poverty rate at or above 32.5 percent and have 10,000 to 200,000 residents. Damian Cook, a city grants administrator who’s overseen the application, said Promise Zone continued on Page A-3
Reducing the likelihood of a train blocking access to the Baptist Medical Center campus on the Southbank, improving logistics for the port and making way for passenger rail service between Jacksonville and New Orleans. Those were three reasons the Downtown Investment Authority on Wednesday approved a resolution supporting a planned grant request by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority. Richard Clark, JTA government affairs officer, said the authority anticipates federal funds could soon be available to improve the rail yard near the Prime Osborn Convention Center in LaVilla, pending a successful grant application. Through the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery Clark (TIGER) program, Clark said funds will be sought to improve the track layout and replace the track switching system where the CSX, Florida East Coast and Norfolk Southern railroads converge on their way in and out of Jacksonville. Clark said the existing switching system is outdated and requires train operators and rail yard personnel to communicate via radio, which slows down trains as they approach the yard compared to using automated technology that is the industry standard. The track layout also creates a “choke point” when trains have to change tracks for northbound, southbound and westbound routes. The proposed improvements would make moving freight trains through the area more efficient, which Clark said would DIA continued on Page A-2
Center studying local nonprofit salaries
‘We’re looking at every position from the top down’ By Max Marbut Staff Writer The largest charity in North Florida in terms of revenue made national news recently over the substantial salary paid to its chief executive. Months before Wounded Warrior Project was the subject of a three-part investigation by CBS News that suggested financial impropriety, the Nonprofit Center of Northeast Florida began a survey of salaries paid to people who work in the region’s taxexempt organizations.
Public
“We’re looking at every position from the top down — from the CEOs to the caseworkers,” said Leah Donelan, Nonprofit Center vice president. “It’s some of the most requested information.” The three-part investigative series that aired last month reported Wounded Warrior did not spend $300 million it received in donations in 2014 in the best interest of veterans. The series also contended Wounded Warrior Project CEO Steven Nardizzi’s compensation, reported in 2013 to the IRS at
legal notices begin on page
A-9
nearly $500,000, was excessive. But operations models and executive salaries are only part of the story of any charitable organization. The first of its kind regional compensation and benefits survey was begun in early November to determine how employees at nonprofits are paid. That relates to how compensation might affect expenses versus how much is spent by a nonprofit on its programs and services. Results of the survey are scheduled to be released March 30.
Donelan said nonprofits are in some ways similar to for-profit corporations, but in other ways, they are in a special category. “Nonprofits have budgets that must be followed, monitor expenses, employ staffs and respond to their clients,” Donelan said. “But they aren’t owned by a person or an entity. They are owned by the community at large. They have to make sure their business practices improve the community in some way,” she added. Nonprofit continued on Page A-2
Published
for
26,869
Donelan consecutive weekdays