Greetings, Citizens and Friends. It is a privilege to serve you, and I look forward to hearing from you any time you need assistance or have ideas or concerns to share. Thank you for electing me to a second term. We have dealt with a considerable number of issues during these years, particularly to protect our neighborhoods and environment, to enhance the lives of all our citizens through public safety, economic development, and assurance of equal rights, and to insure honest, effective and efficient use of public funds.
In this, my fifth year as your commissioner, I thank you for the opportunity to serve on the Commission’s Committees for Equal Opportunity, Community Development, Economic Development and University Committee, the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council and the Homeless Implementation Committee.
My efforts on the commission have benefited from my 23 years of active participation in the life of our city. I have also brought a background of community development service in the Peace Corps (Pacific Islands of Micronesia), the US Agency for International Development (assigned as Social Welfare/Village Restoration Advisor for the Military Assistance Command team in Thua Thien Province, Vietnam), the Boston Community Action Agency (ABCD), consulting to various federal agencies on program planning and evaluation, and two decades of church ministry. My training includes degrees from Dartmouth College (BA/English), Harvard University (Master of Public Policy), and the Berkeley Graduate Theological Union/Starr King School (Master of Divinity).
I value having had a significant role in a number of City issues: for example, crafting our commission’s Vision Statement for Gainesville 2030; directing us away from coal-fueled energy and nuclear power; directing us toward conservation and alternative sources like biomass and solar; establishing a Senior Center as a priority project; keeping our airport under City control and protecting it from undue limitations on its economic contribution to Gainesville; promoting urban redevelopment to maximize economic benefit while preserving surrounding green space; emphasizing affordable housing and social support for our less advantaged citizens; enhancing UF/SFC/City relations; keeping the needs and resources of our community in fiscal balance; and, most recently, winning City government commitment to up-lifting the under-privileged children and families who are an important part of our community’s future. I have emphasized study and analysis for each of our policy decisions.
With other commissioners I also serve on the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Agency and the NCF Regional Planning Council and have served as our appointee to the Transportation Disadvantaged Board. I serve as our appointee to several community organizations including the Juvenile Justice Coalition, the Alachua County Poverty Reduction Board, the Dismantling Racism Committee, and the Implementation Committee for the Gainesville/Alachua County Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness. And with great pleasure I have served as advisor to a series of UF, SFC and Gainesville High School student interns in their studies of how local public policy gets shaped.
I am also involved in other community activities that reflect my concerns as well as my effort to stay informed about our community’s needs. Those activities include 1) service on the boards of Partnership for Strong Families, Habitat for Humanity, the Community Coalition for Older Adults, and Citizens for Social Justice (UF students volunteering to help the neediest in Gainesville); 2) membership in our local Sierra Club, United Nations Association, AARP, Planned Parenthood, Affiliated Congregations of the ACTION Network, and Conservation Trust of Florida; 3) participation in the Alachua County Children’s Alliance, the Alachua County Civic Education Series, the Nutrition/Food Security Alliance, the United Way’s SuccessBy6 planning committee, and the United Way’s Community Solutions Team; and 4) grateful support for the local work of Arbor House, PACE Center for Girls, the Humans Rights Council, the Interfaith Hospitality Network, the Central Labor Council, and the Alachua County Democratic Party.
Last but not least I am honored to be pastor of Highlands Presbyterian Church in Northeast Gainesville, serving along with my wife the Reverend Alisun Donovan who recently added the Ministry of Arts and Spiritual Development at Highlands to her work as an executive for the Presbytery of St. Augustine. And on a final personal note, Alisun and I are proud parents to three Gators, one a graduate of UF’s Pro-Teach program, now teaching in Chicago; one in her second year at UF law school; and one an undergraduate at UF’s Business School.
I look forward to a wonderful future for our community and for my family as part of it. Again, thank you, and stay in touch.
Commissioner Jack Donovan's May 2008 swearing in speech can be viewed here.