Charles R. “Skip” Cramer
Executive Director
Jacksonville Community Council Inc.
Mission
To engage diverse citizens in dialogue, research, consensus building, advocacy and leadership development to improve the quality of life in Northeast Florida and beyond.
Serving Jacksonville
Conceived at the Amelia Island Planning Conference in 1974 and launched in 1975 as the “Jacksonville Council for Citizen Involvement.” It combined the United Way’s former Community Planning Council, the Commission on Goals and Priorities for Human Services, and delegates to the Jacksonville Community Planning Conference at Amelia Island. Its name changed to Jacksonville Community Council Inc. in 1977.
Those served
Created to serve Jacksonville and Duval County, JCCI has expanded nationally and internationally as its reputation and model for community change have taken root and grown. The phrase in our mission statement about improving the quality of life “in Northeast Florida and beyond” was added to reflect the consulting work JCCI is engaged in across the country and around the globe.
Biggest challenge
Ensuring community support and awareness of the uniqueness, importance and relevance of a citizen-based organization like JCCI. National experts have inspected and assessed us and they say we are the pre-eminent nonpartisan civic organization in the country.
Biggest satisfaction
I work with very smart and very dedicated people who get things done. The sum of staff plus volunteers is larger than the sum of the parts. We have put our city on the map in the world of community indicators, civic involvement and shaping of public policy.
Hometown
It has to be Jacksonville and the First Coast. Until we settled here in 1994, I’d never lived in the same place longer than four years, and that was as a midshipman at the Naval Academy. Four high schools in four years; eight cross-country moves by the time I was 16 years old; and a stint living on the French Riviera not long after the end of World War II. Every city I’ve lived in has been my hometown, at least for a while.
Your job before JCCI
Before coming to JCCI in 2004, I spent 10 years as CEO of the Northeast Florida Chapter of the American Red Cross. Before that, I spent 32 years in the U.S. Navy.
First experience with community service
Had to be Cub Scouts in Huntington, Long Island, doing a “clean-the-park” project with our den mother. It was great working with an enthusiastic group. We had strong leadership to keep us mission-focused (my Mom); we knew what “success” would look like; and our reward was a picnic lunch and playing on the park equipment we helped clean up. Like they say, everything you need to know you learn in kindergarten.
Upcoming events
We are all about civic engagement so we are constantly offering the community opportunities to learn and to help shape public policy in our region.
Our ongoing activities are list-ed on our website calendar
at www.jcci.org, including evening forums exploring ethics in public service, monthly brown-bag lunch-and-learn sessions on important topics like the health of the river and property taxation, and, of course, our major studies and implementations.
JCCI has just launched its major 2010-11 community study, “Recession Recovery & Beyond: Job Creation, Employment and Improving Northeast Florida’s Competitiveness.” The study committee will meet weekly until early May, with some breaks for the holidays. It’s important that people know participation in the study is open to everyone and is free.
Contact information
www.jcci.org
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