Executive Director, OneJax Institute
Mission
Our mission is to promote respect and understanding among people of different races, religions, cultures and beliefs. Our vision is “an inclusive community.”
Serving Jacksonville
Our organization held its first Humanitarian Awards Dinner in 1970 when it was known as the National Conference of Christians and Jews and we were one of more than 40 satellite offices of the national organization. Over time, “NCCJ” changed to mean “The National Conference of Community and Justice.” It was a leadership decision at the national organizational level to reflect a wider circle of inclusion and the changing nature of demographics in our country. In 2004 our community trustees determined it was important to maintain our mission while keeping our money and energies focused on the five-county area of Northeast Florida. That’s when the name of our organization became “OneJax.” Since then, we’ve grown significantly. We have been able to collaborate with the University of North Florida to design a new partnership for both of our organizations. Effective Feb. 1, OneJax became the “OneJax Institute.” We are now a full member of the UNF family. Our board and staff remain responsible for our fund development and will continue to work in the larger community to build bridges among people, educate about the many kinds of diversity represented in Northeast Florida, and to advocate for equity when oppression hurts people. We also will offer our services and support to the university community.
Biggest challenge
I engage with a variety of people and groups in our community every day. I need to be able to listen skillfully, employ innovative diplomacy, translate the meaning of cross-cultural messages accurately, and do that while affirming the needs and interests of as many people as possible.
Biggest satisfaction
I feel great satisfaction when people from many different life experiences bring their full humanity to our conversations, our service work in the community and to the effort of working through the places we disagree.
Hometown
Jacksonville is home. My family goes back five generations here.
First experience with community service
There was this little hill in my neighborhood where I played when I was 6 or 7. It had lots of dandelions I liked to pick. The little critters you can only see when you’re close to the ground were my buddies. One day, I went there after school to play. Somebody had dumped a big bag of trash on the grass there. I was furious. The only thing to do was to go home, get garbage bags and all my neighborhood friends, and take a team back to fix that mess. I didn’t have the language for this then, but the spirit of “not on my watch” started that day.
Upcoming events
May 24: 6-9 p.m., Hyatt Downtown, Annual Humanitarian Awards Dinner honoring Dr. Sol Brotman, Hugh Greene, Dr. Yazan Khatib and Karen Wolfson.
July 23-26: Metrotown Institute, an intensive diversity learning lab for rising 10th-12th grade students, will be held on the UNF campus. We’re taking applications online.
Contact information
www.onejax.org
620-1529