Catalyst Convening Update – Together, We Built Something Powerful

We’ve officially wrapped up the Catalyst convening series for now, what an incredible milestone!

Since October 2024, more than 400 community members joined 20 Catalyst meetings to shape a clearer, more focused story about Northeast Florida. Together, we co-created the foundation for a new Catalyst website featuring six community-informed dashboards and over 200 indicators of community wellbeing.

These dashboards will reflect what you helped build—shared definitions and key data points, across the following issue areas:

• Youth & Education
• Prosperity & Opportunity
• Housing & Community Stability
• Health & Wellbeing
• Cultural, Civic & Social Vitality
• Older Adults & People with Disabilities

To give you a closer look at this work, we’ve compiled a Catalyst Master Data Map that outlines the indicators, definitions, and data sources shaping each dashboard. You can explore the full data map here: Catalyst Data Map

As Catalyst grows and evolve, so does our commitment to advancing data collaboration across sectors. This year, we’ve partnered with the University of North Florida through multiple initiatives, including mentoring our Rena Coughlin Research Fund Data Fellow, supporting a 2025 DSSG Summer Internship Project and a “Give a Hack” Hackathon challenge for JaxTechWeek. We’re also collaborating with UNF’s MPA program on research to support our new Shared Services initiative which we hope to share with a national audience at the ARNOVA conference alongside thought leaders from George Mason, Albany, and Johns Hopkins Universities. We’ve built partnerships with Jacksonville University as part of the Business for Social Good program. Finally, we’re in preliminary discussions with the Urban Institute to represent Northeast Florida in the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership, and have been invited to attend their annual meeting in Charlotte this year.

What’s next? We’re translating your feedback into a new more comprehensive website. This September, you’ll be invited to a special preview of the updated Catalyst Dashboard before its public release. Stay tuned for meetings invites for these events. Then later in the fall, we will use the data to facilitate Catalyst Connect conversations with our community and go deeper. During the sessions we will discuss, what the Catalyst data tells us, what our community is doing to move the needle and how we can come together to make change.

This process was deeply shaped by your lived experience, professional expertise, and thoughtful engagement, whether in person or on Zoom. Thank you for your time, your ideas, and your commitment to building a stronger, data-informed future for our region. 

Thank you to all the organizations that have participated to date!

904WARD Agape Family Health Arthur Vining Davis Foundations Ascension St. Vincent’s Bachman Galnor Communications Baptist Medical Center BEAM Beaches Habitat Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Florida Blue Zones Project Blueprint30 Bring Your Brokenness Brooks Rehab Cathedral Arts Project Catholic Charities Charis Care City of Jacksonville City Year Jacksonville Clay Education Foundation Colorado State University Cummer Museum Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center Developmental Learning Center Disability Rights Florida Downtown Ecumenical Services Council Dun & Bradstreet Duval County Public Schools ElderSource Empower Farms Empowerment Resources, Inc. End Food Deserts Now Family Foundations First Coast E-Sports First Coast Family First Coast YMCA First Horizon Bank Florida Aging in Place Florida Blue Florida Chamber Florida Community Innovation Florida Department of Education Fostering Connections Foundation Academy Freedom Financial Institute Garden Club of Jacksonville Genesys Works Girl Scouts of the Gateway Council Goodwill Northeast Florida Groundwork Jacksonville, Inc. HabiJax Hart Felt Ministries, Inc. Health Planning Council of Northeast Florida Here Tomorrow Heritage Capital Group Hope and Healing Jax Hope Haven HRPeopleCoach IamthePrize Jacksonville Area Legal Aid Jacksonville Center For Children’s Rights Jacksonville Civic Council Jacksonville Public Education Fund Jacksonville Youth Works

James Weldon Johnson Park JASMYN Jax Care Connect Jax Chamber Jax Humane Society Jax Youth Empowerment JaxLookoutRedux JAXUSA Partnership JEA JPMorgan Chase & Co Level the Playing Field LIFT JAX Literacy Alliance Lutheran Social Services Lyfstyl Health Mal Washington Youth Foundation Mass Clinic Mayo Clinic Museum of Contemporary Art Northeast Florida Regional Council OneJax Operation New Hope Optimal Fitness Empowerment Pace Center for Girls Partnership for Child Health PartnersWithNonprofits.Org Pearls of Perfection Pine Castle Point Taken Communications Prestige Workforce READ USA Rakad Dance Camp Riverside Avondale Preservation Sapna Foundation Scenic Jacksonville Senior Helpers Sisters in Arms Speech and Hearing Center Jacksonville St. Johns Housing Partnership St. Johns Riverkeeper Steps2Success Sulzbacher Center Tamika’s School of Epicure The Arc of Jacksonville The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida The Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville The Preservation Firm The Shepherd’s Center The Terry Family Foundation The Tributary Think Free Agents True Identity Project Inc. United Healthcare United Way of Northeast Florida University of North Florida Value Mapping Vision is Priceless Volunteers in Medicine WeCare Jacksonville Wirth Works WJCT YMCA Yoga4Change

We also thank the C. Herman & Mary Virginia Terry Family Foundation for their generous support of this series.

Sincerely, 
Allison Ownby
Director of Research and Evaluation
Nonprofit Center of Northeast Florida
904-425-8758