Almost a month after it missed a fundraising goal that meant it wouldn’t receive $150,000 from the city, Friends of Hemming Park is poised to collect.
Vince Cavin, the organization’s executive director, said Monday the nonprofit will have an April 22 announcement about a $100,000 grant it’s been awarded. He wouldn’t name the company providing the funding.
With that boost, it would mean the organization charged with revitalizing and programming Downtown’s prime city block would be in line for the scheduled payment it missed March 1. The group has a $1 million contract with the city, but is required to meet performance objectives to receive funding.
One of those is private fundraising — it needed to have brought in $100,000 by March 1 for the city to give its next $150,000 funding obligation.
It comes at an opportune time. The nonprofit is scheduled to turn in its next financial report Wednesday to the city. The $100,000 grant will be reflected in it and would trigger the next scheduled payment to the nonprofit.
“We are looking at having way over six figures,” Cavin said Monday.
In fact, with the addition the group will almost have hit the $200,000 mark needed to reach the nine-month mark of $200,000 in fundraising.
That accounts for the $50,000 in past grants, the upcoming $100,000 gift and close to $50,000 the park received in concessions revenue from One Spark and Gastrofest in recent weeks.
To date, the group has received $450,000 from the city for its services.
Cavin said there’s been “a lot of chatter” about what the organization has and hasn’t done so far, but he chalks it up to timing. The first six months have been about planning and putting staff in place, combined with typical slower winter months. “It was just a matter of time,” he said.
Hemming Park will be the site of a few larger-scale — and not-so-typical — events in the coming months.
On Thursday, there will be a news conference officially unveiling the park as the site of the Pogopalooza U.S. Open on June 5-6.
The event features athletes using modified pogo sticks for big air, big moves and big tricks. Cavin said he anticipates 10,000-15,000 people Downtown for the event.
Another tentative event for Hemming will be “Slide the City,” which will feature a 600-foot-long slide and a goal of having 10,000 people taking part over three days in June.
The block also is slated to be a Jacksonville Jazz Festival venue, craft food and beverage event and New Year’s Eve bash, all of which are in the works, Cavin said.
Along with events, revenue opportunities also are on the way. Cavin said the nonprofit is lining up sponsorship of various areas of the park, such as a shaded reading area. And there are still grants in the works, although it will be months before any are received.
Despite the outside revenue, the crux has been its partnership with the city. The nonprofit has received $450,000 to date as part of the contract, which has supported staff, landscaping, signage and its first couple of events.
City Council member Bill Gulliford, a long-time proponent of fixing the park’s issues, said he thought the news was “fantastic.” But, he also said he hoped the group continued to pursue more revenue opportunities so it eventually would succeed outside the city’s help.
“For that thing to be successful, it needs to be a strong mix of revenue and doing things on its own,” he said.
For now, though, it’s a positive outcome, he said.
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