Neighborhood News

All the latest news from the neighborhoods in our coverage areas.

Children’s Home Society of Florida basketball court restored

Children’s Home Society of Florida basketball court restored

What better way to celebrate a new basketball court than to hold a tournament? That’s what Children’s Home Society of Florida did Aug. 1 when more than 50 volunteers, staff and friends of CHS gathered to officially break in the new court with the inaugural Building Bridges Basketball Tournament. The old court was practically unusable […]

Middle school mentoring program develops life-long relationship

Middle school mentoring program develops life-long relationship

Karen Morales-Diaz thought she was in trouble one day in 2010 when she was called to the principal’s office at Julia Landon College Preparatory and Leadership Development School, where was a seventh-grader, but she couldn’t figure out why. It turns out she wasn’t in trouble at all. She had been chosen for a mentoring program […]

Children learn kindness for animals at Camp Compassion

Children learn kindness for animals at Camp Compassion

EPIC Outreach, a nonprofit dedicated to education outreach to teach compassion for people, animals and the environment, held a week-long Camp Compassion for up to 27 children in July at Southside Baptist Church.  Guest speakers brought animals, including Wrigley, a therapy dog, and Pumpkin, a Guinea pig rescue, to help the campers learn about kindness. […]

Global financial company expands on Southbank

Global financial company expands on Southbank

JAXUSA Partnership and JAX Chamber held a ribbon cutting Aug. 14 to celebrate Macquarie Group’s continued growth in the Jacksonville market. Already occupying the fifth floor of Riverplace Towers, the event noted expansion to the fourth floor for Macquarie’s human resources and business services staff. The company is expanding its shared services operations and adding […]

Saving manatees one paddle stroke at a time

Saving manatees one paddle stroke at a time

The first annual Timucuan Paddleboard Race, held Aug. 5, raised $1,260 to support the new critical care manatee facility at the Jacksonville Zoo.  From a crowd of 40 to 50, 21 paddleboarders launched from St. Peter’s Episcopal Church on to the Ortega River to paddle approximately two miles, turning at Ortega Island. Winners included David […]

Friday Musicale director has big visions for venue

Friday Musicale director has big visions for venue

Inside the elegant, white-columned, 1930s Colonial Revival-style building of Friday Musicale’s Riverside auditorium, a second-story, climate-controlled storage room is filled with rows and rows of tables lined end to end. Covered with white tablecloths, the items beneath are donations and artifacts of the nonprofit – some dating back to its establishment in 1890. They wait […]

High school dedicated for students with special needs

High school dedicated for students with special needs

Nine days after students returned to Morning Star School Aug. 9 to a brand new building, the Archbishop Joseph P. Hurley Building was blessed and dedicated in a morning ceremony Aug. 18. Thanks to the parents, organizations, corporations and Morning Star’s “Circle of Friends” who supported the “Building a Brighter Future” capital campaign, the Class […]

Halloween block party, parade casting wide net

Halloween block party, parade casting wide net

Perhaps riding on the coattails of its very successful centennial celebration a year ago, the Murray Hill Preservation Association is rolling out another event MHPA President Jason Tetlak calls “Jacksonville’s largest Halloween party.” Murray Hill-O-Ween was announced Aug. 5 but interest was sparked much earlier. “Some groups have already signed up to participate in the […]