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Community Updates

We must require better.

A statement from Dr. Kimberly Allen, our CEO

This weekend’s horrendous acts of anti-Semitism in our city show how, if given an inch of room in our city, Jacksonville can succumb to divisiveness and hatred. We condemn these acts of hostility aimed at our Jewish friends and neighbors, and we encourage our local, state and federal leaders to do more to unite our community and take action to end the growing number of acts of hatred in Northeast Florida.

To curb these acts of hatred, our leaders must demonstrate respect for others of all religions, nationalities, races, sexes, sexual orientations, and gender identities and have the courage to denounce bigotry in all of its forms. Words have power, and power plus action creates change! We will not sit back and watch our city be torn further apart by hate, bigotry, and silence.

At 904WARD, we stand with our Jewish friends and neighbors today and every day. We understand that putting an end to hatred will take a lot of hard work, which we are committed to doing, alongside the Jewish community and other organizations and individuals who realize that our fates are intertwined. We must have necessary conversations and create educational opportunities to address anti-Semitism in our community. Hate will not win in Jacksonville - there are too many great people here who love this city and will push it to be the best it can be, despite the efforts to hold us back.

Let’s Continue the Conversation!

To celebrate Jacksonville’s Bicentennial this year, we have been helping the community host 200 Race Cards conversations. As we move into 2023, we
want to Continue the Conversation.

We need your help.

Please make a donation today to keep the conversations going in our community. And, thanks to the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, online donations made this November will be doubled. Plus, gifts made on Giving Day - which is Thursday, November 29th this year – will be TRIPLED! Click on the link below to learn more about the matching gift challenge and to make your gift.

Virtual Race Cards - Holidays Edition

While the holidays are often filled with good food, quality family time, and precious memories, they can also come with opposing viewpoints, differences in political beliefs and even a racist comment or two. Come learn from our panel of experts about some ways to handle challenging family conversations while not bringing about Armageddon, and then engage in a thought-provoking Race Cards conversation!

Join Us in the Conference Room

We’re launching a podcast! Tomorrow, The Business of Race podcast premieres, where we are discussing issues of race and racism and how they impact businesses. On tomorrow’s episode, we welcome our own Tracy Tousey, nonprofit consultant and 904WARD Board Member, into the conference room.

You don't want to miss this conversation about promoting civic engagement in the workplace.

Subscribe early to be alerted when this, and future, podcast episodes are released.

Naming Our Little Free Diverse Libraries

We want to make sure all of our communities have access to diverse stories and experiences, so we will be installing 20 Little Free Diverse Libraries across the Jacksonville community. We’ve already named our first five libraries, which we will be naming after BIPOC authors Isabel Allende, James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, and Amy Tan. The next five will be named after activists of color. One of these libraries will be named after our own activist who recently left us, Bryant Rollins. However, we need you to decide the next four. Click on the link below to vote for your top five BIPOC activists after whom these locations should be named. Please be sure to vote by Friday, November 4!

When Should Book Club Be?

We have an exciting lineup for next year’s Book Club reads, and we want everyone to join in the discussion. We need your help in knowing when we should host Book Club. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey below to let us know what will work the best for most people.