If you have questions regarding the First Coast Vision
or want to get involved, contact:
Margo Moehring, Executive Director
Regional Community Institute of Northeast Florida, Inc.
6850 Belfort Oaks Place
Jacksonville, Florida, 32216
Telephone: 904 279 0885 X 161
The Regional Community Institute of Northeast Florida, Inc.
As in most diverse communities, the Northeast Florida Region faces challenges including growth, preserving valuable eco-systems, improving economic viability, and maintaining the quality of life that is the reason we live in Northeast Florida. Northeast Florida is at a critical juncture. Years of rapid change and recent economic challenges across the spectrum of communities has heightened awareness that growth related issues are interconnected and that they can best be addressed on the regional level.
The Regional Community Institute of Northeast Florida, Inc. (RCI) was created in 2004 as the non-profit organization associated with the Northeast Florida Regional Council (NEFRC). The RCI is a broad group of stakeholders representing the seven counties in Northeast Florida. The counties are connected not only by shared boundaries, but by the common need to create new, and strengthen existing, resources for citizens who live and work in the Region. As a non-profit organization, the RCI has the flexibility to partner with, and accept donations from, all of the diverse stakeholders inside and outside the Region. The NEFRC provides administration and staffing to the RCI. Graduates of the NEFRC’s Regional Leadership Academy are all members of the RCI. The RCI was created do the following:
Facilitate a First Coast Vision: With the benefit of regional leaders, including those nourished by their experience at the Regional Leadership Academy, the RCI created First Coast Vision. Reality Check First Coast, a regional visioning exercise, kicked off First Coast Vision in May of 2009. The Reality Check exercise resulted in the identification of growth patterns that are alternatives to the trend, and guiding principles that are valued by the regional leaders that participated, including a large and representative group of elected officials, business people and non-governmental agency managers. To get additional input, the Reality Check visioning exercise was repeated in each County as County Checks, and with young people exclusively, as Generation Check. Staff has conducted public education on the choices we have as a Region as far as growth patterns, and Committees of the RCI drafted goals and objectives for First Coast Vision. Public input on the draft helped refine the goals and objectives into First Coast Vision. Ultimately, the RCI presented First Coast Vision to NEFRC and it be used to inform the update to the regional plan that guides NEFRC policy, the Strategic Regional Policy Plan.
Assess the State of the Region: The RCI will consider the performance measures that are appropriate to a fair assessment of the state of the Region, to get the word out on our performance, to galvanize support for the things we need in order to continue to thrive, and to encourage us to do better in the future.
RCI Board Members: As of February, 2012, the following regional leaders serve on the RCI Board:
- Hon. Bob Page, Councilmember, City of Green Cove Springs, Chair
- Mr. Michael Boyle, Vice Chair
- Ms. Linda Myers, CPA, Partner, Myers Resources, LLC, Secretary/Treasurer
- Ms. Carol Brady, Executive Director, NE Florida Healthy Start Coalition, Inc.
- Hon. Doug Conkey, Clay County Board of County Commissioners
- Ms. Shannon Eller, Government and Public Relations Officer, JTA
- Dr. Dawn Emerick, Executive Director, Health Planning Council of Northeast Florida, Inc.
- Hon. Art Graham, Florida Public Service Commission
- Mr. Wilfredo J. Gonzalez, District Director, US Small Business Administration
- Ms. Kellie Jo Kilberg, IOM, CCE, President, Kilberg and Associates
- Hon. Jon Netts, Mayor, City of Palm Coast
- Ms. Mary Alice Phelan, Director/Community Relations, St. Vincent's HealthCare
- Mr. David Reed, Conservation Coordinator, JEA
- Mr. Harold Rutledge, President/CEO, The Rutledge Group
- Dr. Quinton White, Executive Director, Marine Science Research Institute, Jacksonville University