20 Really Good People
Carla Austin calls nonprofit management the most delightful thing she could ever have chosen to do. The executive director of ELEVATE Jacksonville for nearly three years said she “always had a heart and passion for underserved people and adored kids.”
Growing up in Alabama, she pursued business, earning a degree in computer science from Tuskegee Institute, which led to a 15-year banking career in South Florida before moving to Jacksonville to be a stay-at-home mom to her son and daughter. Volunteering at St. Clair Evans Academy, located in a low-income neighborhood where families struggled to thrive, pulled her heartstrings into the nonprofit world, where she has been repeatedly recruited as a leader.
Austin served as program director of Community Connections of Jacksonville’s after-school program, as the agency’s interim CEO, and as the A.L. Lewis Center’s preschool program director. She later joined ELEVATE Jacksonville as its program director. When former Executive Director Jon Heymann retired, board members pleaded with her to step into the leadership role.
“I decided when our board chair, Skip Allcorn, said, ‘We need you. This is you. You have carried this for so many years. Please take this job,’” said Austin. “I knew I could continue doing what I loved, which was being in the schools around the kids, promoting that care while pushing them hard to reach their dreams.”
“A great testament to Carla is how much the ELEVATE teachers love her, and her commitment to the program and what we do,” said Allcorn. “This, in turn, affects ELEVATE’S stability and its long-term impact on the nearly 600 students who are taught character and life skills every school day. She’s all in. We are blessed.”
In Westside and Ribault middle and high schools, ELEVATE Jacksonville is a nationwide affiliate of ELEVATE USA. Serving urban youth, it is an accredited curriculum that teaches 13 specific character and life skills, including goal-setting, a positive work ethic, problem-solving, caring, courage, respect and leadership. Teacher-Mentors also bond with students outside of school through adventure, educational, cultural, and summer activities.
“We have students clambering to get into our classrooms,” Austin said. The program is supported by individual, and corporate fundraising and grants.
“A community of thriving individuals, especially children, is an upward advantage for everyone,” said Austin. “When kids feel supported, they have a better understanding of what it means to be a good person who wants to stay in their community and give back and watch it grow because of their choices.”
