by Monica Chamness
Staff Writer
A new club for Jacksonville’s young leaders is springing into action. Jacksonville Urban Magnet Program (JUMP) is a social group with the civic-mindedness of a community association. Its purpose is to draw citizens to the city’s urban core.
“We will offer community events, socializing and political, issue-oriented topics,” said Kenneth Rogers, JUMP director. “Plus, it’s free and open to whomever wants to attend.”
JUMP is a spinoff from Cowford Social Club, which disbanded in October. Formerly a Cowford member, Rogers took over when its leader, Carolyn Cantrell, left town. Only five-weeks-old, JUMP already has 100-plus members. The target demographic is college graduates, 21 and up, who are looking to participate in downtown’s revitalization. Single persons, young married couples and young families are encouraged to join.
“We’re growing on a daily basis,” said Rogers, who works at Guarantec. “We’re trying to pattern this to everybody. You can’t put a limit on who wants to be involved in the urban growth of Jacksonville.”
The program focuses on four main components of urban Jacksonville: growth and development, parks and recreation, urban lifestyles and the arts.
“We want to create a word-of-mouth advertising network for downtown businesses so they stay, survive and thrive and so that as we grow and bring more people into Jacksonville, they have places to go,” said Rogers. “You always hear, ‘Oh, there’s nothing to do; there’s no place to go downtown,’ but that’s wrong. There’s a lot happening. People just don’t know about it.”
JUMP is hosting soireés throughout the City. Issues such as parking downtown, the homeless population, getting acquainted with your neighbors and supporting local businesses will all be on the agenda in 2003.
“We need to be more oriented towards what our identity is and what it can be,” he said. “There’s a lot of talk but there’s not a lot of doing. We have a beautiful river and we don’t use it to its potential. I know there are plans to expand the Riverwalk on the Northbank and the Southbank but if we expand the Riverwalk, what’s on it?”
Currently, JUMP’s membership spans from the Northside to the beaches.
“We’re not going to be just a downtown organization,” he said. “We needed a pinpoint location. Downtown is the driving force, but we want to offer events where people live. The complaint was that there were no events downtown so why should they go in. Now we have them.”
On the social side, JUMP will be leaping into the arts scene with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra to facilitate the return of OPUS, a preconcert networking opportunity for young professionals. Red, White and Bluegrass on Jan 17 and 18 will be the first of these events. To cater to its members with children, JUMP and e-happyhour.com will co-host MOSH on Tap at the Museum of Science & History.
“A lot of organizations are singles-based,” said Rogers. “What happens when they get married? How do young married couples meet other young marrieds? Everybody’s got to have friends.”
Because the group does not charge dues, JUMP will hold a membership drive/ fundraiser in January. Meghan Dougherty from the Florida Theatre will assist Rogers with the drive.
“We want to build on Jacksonville’s urban atmosphere through the Super Bowl and beyond,” said Rogers. “Our goal is to offer a schedule of events and ideas so somebody who comes to Jacksonville can find out what’s happening in the City. Our goal is to create urban professionals.”