Dawn Lockhart is being given a blank slate to work with in City Hall.
The goal: Create a framework that better bonds Jacksonville’s nonprofit and philanthropic sectors with city government.
Lockhart isn’t a stranger to the subject. Anything but, really.
She’s been a part of Family Foundations, which provides financial education to individuals with a goal of homeownership, for more than 30 years.
Yet, when Mayor Lenny Curry met with her about a position he was creating to more strongly link the public and private sectors, she knew it would be a natural fit.
“This is the first time when city government technically is going to be at the table,” Lockhart said of the effort to coordinate community-wide improvements.
She begins June 13 and has been tasked with determining what the effort will look like.
Cities like Denver, Los Angeles, New York and Pittsburgh all have partnership efforts she wants to learn from to determine what will and won’t work for Jacksonville.
After determining what Jacksonville’s best practices should be for better alignment, she said, the focus would then shift to discussions on local opportunities.
“We have a very strong philanthropic community here,” said Lockhart, “but that doesn’t mean it always translates to working together as best as possible.”
Kerri Stewart, Curry’s chief of staff, said there hasn’t been a “gap” when it comes to the city working with the nonprofit and philanthropic communities.
But, there have been missed opportunities — opportunities this position will seek to coordinate and capitalize on.
The new position was important enough that a Curry transition team dealing with nonprofit issues made it a key recommendation for the then-newly elected mayor.
The position will be housed within Curry’s office, but is a little different than other senior staff members.
The $130,000 annual salary for the first year is being paid by the nonprofit community. The second year, it’s 75 percent. The third and fourth years, 50 percent is funded outside City Hall.
After that, the position goes on the city payroll.
Benefits are paid by the city from the start.
Lockhart also will be the face of nonprofit issues involving the city and the “leader, coordinator and convener,” said Stewart, when it comes to funding opportunities at the federal level.
Those chances will come later, though.
For now, Lockhart said she is ready to take the reins of a new effort that’s starting from scratch and hitting those opportunities for both sides to better work together.
@writerchapman
(904) 356-2466