The city of Jacksonville has finalized its appointments to the city’s Eastside Grants Committee, a group formed to distribute millions in financial aid to the city’s Eastside neighborhood under the city’s community benefits agreement with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
City Council unanimously approved the nomination of Alice Nelson on June 2 and Robyn Cenizal on June 9, filling all eight of the nine committee slots appointed by the mayor or Council president. The Jaguars are responsible for filling the ninth, and final, seat on the committee.
Council’s vote on Nelson was 17-0, with members Rahman Johnson and Will Lahnen not present. Council voted 16-0 in favor of Cenizal’s appointment, with members Rory Diamond, Chris Miller and Jimmy Peluso not present.
According to Nelson’s resume, attached to Resolution 2026-0352, she is a lifelong Eastside resident working as an information technology professional. Nelson is a resident of the Oakland neighborhood, according to the legislation.
Nominated under Resolution 2026-0400, Cenizal most recently worked on the Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Improvement Project with the Bethesda, Maryland-based Manhattan Strategy Group. According to its website, the firm is a management and social sciences consulting firm.
Council has already approved the nominations of Kim Black, James Edwards, Rudolph Jamison, Rochelle Stoddard, Larry Swink and Cleve Warren to the committee,
Council created the grants committee to distribute a portion of the city’s $150 million contribution to the $300 million CBA with the Jaguars. The CBA, which was related to the $1.45 billion agreement to transform EverBank Stadium into the team’s “Stadium of the Future,” includes $40 million in city funding to the Eastside over seven years to fund affordable housing, workforce housing, economic development and homelessness services. The Jaguars committed to spend $2.5 million annually in the Eastside for the next 30 years.
Council-approved legislation for the grants committee calls for appointments of members having a “substantial economic business interest” in the Eastside. No more than three of the appointees may come from the same neighborhood of the five in the Eastside: Campbells Addition, Fairfield, Longbranch, Oakland and Phoenix.
The committee was formed in February 2026 under Ordinance 2026-0036, which was crafted by a special Council committee. The committee determined what it decided was the best route for the city to honor its financial commitments to the Eastside from the CBA.
The legislation recommends that members be from the Eastside and have experience in affordable housing, workforce housing, economic development and homelessness services.
As outlined in Ordinance 2026-0036, the committee will request an annual funding appropriation from the city for Eastside grants and review grant applications. The city’s CBA funding will vary year-by-year based on the committee’s request.
Committee members will review the needs of the Eastside, recommend the selection process for grant recipients, review and score grant applications and participate in on-site evaluation of grant recipients.
Among other details of the committee’s structure, members will serve staggered two-year terms and the Council president will annually appoint a nonvoting Council liaison to the committee.
The committee will be aided by a manager from the Grants and Contract Compliance Division of the city’s Finance Department.