Ju’Coby Pittman-Peele
President and Chief Executive Officer, Clara White Mission
Mission
The mission is to prevent and reduce homelessness through advocacy, housing, job training and employment by working in partnership with public and private entities to provide a continuum of services.
Serving Jacksonville
Began serving Jacksonville in 1904.
Those served
Duval County. Our hands-on approach rebuilds and restores lives to real people with real issues, in addition to preserving our historical museum and the legacy of our founder, Eartha M.M. White. The mission serves more than 140,000 meals annually to the homeless and those who are low-income.
Currently, Clara White has demonstrated a model of training, job placement and housing in conjunction with on-site supportive services. More than 400 individuals have been housed in the mission’s transitional housing program, more than 500 have graduated from the state certified training programs and 63 percent remain employed. Employed graduates working in the Jacksonville community have infused the local economy with more than $1 million through their earned income annually.
Biggest challenge
Maintaining and sustaining program operations when diversified funding is decreasing in an economy where critical and essential needs are increasing.
Biggest satisfaction
Developing the Clara White Mission from a soup kitchen to a one-stop comprehensive service center that focuses on job training and placement in culinary arts, janitorial, catering and training, including creating the Clara’s Café at St. Johns Cathedral, a drop-in day center, and a seven-day-a-week feeding program. In my position as a public servant for social change, it is important to integrate many areas: the passion, commitment and dedication of the staff; active board participation; financial support; volunteers and community partnerships; and political and legislative action. Accountability and program outcomes have been the satisfaction and driving force in addressing new and innovative ways to effect change, with long-term and visible results.
Hometown
Jacksonville. I’m a homegrown native.
First experience with
community service
Volunteered in the seventh grade at the Eartha White Nursing Home, now called Summer Brook Nursing Home.
Your job before Clara White Mission
Residence and Family Services Director, YWCA
Upcoming events
The 16th Annual “Miracle on Ashley Street Celebrity Chefs & Servers Luncheon” sponsored by Citi and WJXT TV-4. Community and corporate leaders will volunteer from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 14 at the mission to serve a gourmet lunch prepared by 16 area restaurants and Clara White culinary students to the homeless and community guests. All proceeds will benefit the daily feeding program for the homeless. To date, more than 106 community leaders have confirmed their plans to serve. The highlight will include the introduction of the “Skip A Meal” for Clara Campaign.
Contact information
www.clarawhitemission.org or 354-4162