• Visit Jacksonville is trimming its staff by three employees because of budget constraints and revenue predictions. Senior Director of Finance and Administration Debbie Mudd, Group Services Manager Iris Harris and Director of Convention Services Julia Gast have been laid off. “The bed tax dollars have been going down and the next fiscal year doesn’t look much better,” said Hyatt General Manager and Visit Jacksonville Board Chair Dan King. Visit Jacksonville is the marketing arm of the Tourist Development Council and is funded by bed tax revenue.
• Jacksonville author and consultant Richard Hadden asked Meninak Club members Monday whether they’ve seen those annual reports where companies stress how much they value their employees. “There will be a picture of a happy employee,” he said. “Or an actor portraying one.”
• The Civic Round Table of Jacksonville honored three members for “most outstanding” status during 2009-10. The Port of Jacksonville Pilot Club was the honored organization for its Cemetery Tour, which raised funds for a classroom for middle-school students with autism; Friends of the Jacksonville Public Library was chosen for its project, the Great Jacksonville Book Sale, which raised more than $200,000 for the public libraries; and Harry Reagan, FPL president, was honored as civic leader.
• There’s a “Khaki and White” cocktail reception at 6 p.m. June 21 at One Ocean Resort in Atlantic Beach to benefit Film Florida’s Sarah Fuller Scholarship Fund and the Don Davis Film Finishing Fund. Tickets are $25. On June 22, the Fifth Annual Film Florida Legend Awards will honor Belton Clark, Jerry Smith and Richard Norman (posthumous) at the WJCT Studios. Tickets are $40 in advance, $50 at the door. For tickets to either event, visit www.filmflorida.org.
• The Jacksonville Port Authority plans a June 30 seminar, “Doing Business with Mexico,” at Jacksonville University. A featured speaker will be Florida’s Mexican Consul based in Orlando, Alberto Fierro. It will be 8-10:30 a.m. Cost is $10. For more information, visit www.businesswithmexico.eventbrite.com or call 357-3047.
• The Ritz Voices, a youth chorus through the Ritz Theatre & LaVilla Museum, will compete Saturday in the McDonald’s Gospelfest 2010 in Newark, N.J. It’s the fourth year the Ritz Voices qualified to participate in the Gospelfest. The send-off event is 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the theatre on North Davis Street. For details, call 632-5555.
• Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum sent a congratulatory letter to the City for being awarded $131,455 for its Victim Services Center through a Victims of Crime Act grant for 2010-2011. The center offers programs and services, including the Sexual Assault Response Center for victims of sexual assault, outreach to the elderly and disabled, the Intimate Violence Enhanced Services Team for victims of domestic violence, after-hours hospital emergency room counseling services and other assistance.
• Support the Jacksonville Jaguars and a nonprofit at the same time. The Nonprofit Center of Northeast Florida is hosting the “Give and Go” program on its website, www.nonprofitctr.org. Anyone who buys a Jaguars ticket through the program can direct $10 per ticket to one of more than 40 nonprofit organizations throughout Jacksonville.