About 320 people welcomed new Jacksonville Community Council Inc. President Ben Warner to the job Friday and also heard the mayor of San Antonio talk about his city’s strengths and weaknesses.
Warner was promoted to president and CEO of the 36-year-old organization in August, effective Sept. 1, succeeding Skip Cramer, who is retiring. JCCI was created in 1975 to bring together citizens to study community issues.
It has completed 71 community studies and also works with other organizations and communities. The newest study is “Children: 1-2-3,” a focus on how Jacksonville can best foster early learning success for children ages 1-3 in the community.
Orientation for the study is 8:15-9:45 a.m. Oct. 12 at JCCI offices at 2434 Atlantic Blvd.
Warner worked with San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro in that city’s SA2020 project, a visioning study for the next 10 years.
Castro, 37, is the youngest mayor of a top 50 American city, said JCCI.
He told the JCCI crowd, at the Schultz Center for Teaching & Leadership, that San Antonio has strengths with its median age of under 32 and with its diversity. He said 63 percent of the population is Hispanic.
“I really believe San Antonio in a real way is the new face of the American dream,” said Castro. He said the city was a reflection of the nation’s entrepreneurs, consumers and voters.
“The flip side is San Antonio is a big city and has big city challenges,” he said, referring to a high school dropout rate of about 40 percent; child and adult obesity rates at twice the national average; and a senior population quality of life “under what it should be.”
“It’s still a place with a fundamental sense of community and great character,” he said.
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