Love living in Pensacola? Help celebrate the people who make it great at CivicCon Awards

*Editor's note: This story has been updated to remove language related to ongoing challenges of Escambia County's comprehensive plan.

For five years, CivicCon's mission has been to educate and empower citizens to make their communities better places to live, grow, work and invest.

It is people to bring that mission to life, however, and thankfully people across Escambia and Santa Rosa counties are stepping up every day to make their streets, neighborhoods and cities into more vibrant, equitable and lovable places to live.

CivicCon will recognize and celebrate some of those people at the 2022 CivicCon Awards at The REX Theatre in downtown Pensacola.

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“CivicCon’s goal has always been to increase civic engagement,” said Terry Horne, CivicCon executive director. “We know that great dialogue makes a great city and CivicCon has been an effective platform for that dialogue. Thousands of people have attended via livestream the speaker series with world-class experts on different aspects of improving the quality of life in a community. More and more we hear community members using the terminology and ideas of these experts at public meetings.”

CivicCon stands for Civic Conversation, and over the past five years CivicCon has hosted 60 nationally renowned speakers who have shared best practices on everything from urban planning, to affordable housing, to opioid addiction.

And over the years, citizens have taken many of those ideas and run with them, championing things like urban bike lanes, community gathering spaces and attainable infill housing.

From an Escambia County resident who organized a digital "citizens watch," to a stalwart environmental advocate who been monitoring our local waters ways for decades, to a pastor who traveled to Egypt to educate the world on the environmental and racial injustices plaguing a Pensacola neighborhood, the CivicCon Awards will honor 19 individuals and organizations who embodied CivicCon ideals in 2022 and beyond.

The awards event and holiday party is 6 p.m. Dec. 5, at The Rex Theatre. The evening begins with a public reception at 6 p.m. that will include appetizers, non-alcoholic holiday beverages and a casual dress code.

Learn more about the award categories and register for the free event by searching CivicCon at eventbrite.com.

And without further ado, meet the awardees:

The Placemaking Award

Generation Church for the renovation and activation of The REX Theatre

Crews began a $2 million renovation of the historic REX Theatreat 18 N. Palafox Street in downtown Pensacola in 2014, according to information from Pensacola's Downtown Improvement Board. The building, which opened in 1910 as a furniture store and transitioned to a theater in the 1930s, was shuttered in 1977 and stood largely vacant until Generation Church acquired it in 2012.

Today it's a vibrant 400-seat theatre that serves as a home to Generation Church and a venue for community theatre, seminars and as of this years features a full coffee shop in the lobby.

Pensacola Off-Road Cyclists  

This nonprofit organization — which is also lovingly referred to as P.O.R.C. — has a 20-plus year history of building and maintaining trails for our community. It manages three trail systems that add up to roughly 40-plus miles of mostly single track trails, which are used by cyclists, runners, hikers, walkers, horseback riders and a few other outdoor associations.

The Environmental Award

Pensacola and Perdido Bays Estuary Program

The program just recently released its Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan that lays out the most substantive blueprint ever for restoration of our two bays. The organization is pursuing a designation as a National Estuary Program, which could open a floodgate of federal funding to protect and restore our local waterways.

Barbara Albrecht

Barbara Albrecht has kept alive the water quality testing on a regular basis that was started some 40 years ago by the Bream Fisherman Association. An outspoken advocate and champion for our local environment, Albrecht's nomination says "she tirelessly monitors area water quality with her volunteers and also educates the public about the importance of protecting the waterways. She helps citizens trying to stop water pollution and points out development errors polluting our waterways.”

The Great Neighborhoods Award

Calvin Avant

Avant is executive director of United in the Family Ministry and works in the greater Rolling Hills community of the Olive Heights, Rolling Hills and Wedgewood neighborhoods, predominantly Black communities that have been treated as dumping grounds for pollution.

He has been very involved in organizing community members to work with the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice in New Orleans to become informed and better ready to fight the ongoing battle to clean up a former borrow pits and construction landfills that plague the neighborhoods. He recently returned from trip to a United Nations conference in Egypt where he help he shared Rolling Hills' plight on the national stage.

Chris Wilde

Wilde was the engine behind revitalizing the Dunmire Woods Neighborhood Association, which had discontinued meetings even before the pandemic. During the past year, “she approached neighbors one at a time either by phone, door-to-door or email to evangelize what the association could be, how it might deepen bonds among neighbors, improve parks and shared spaces and contribute to overall safety,” her nomination said.

She ultimately launched the association with overwhelming support from her neighbors, getting paid membership from 95 of 103 homes.

The Safe Streets and People-Centered Transportation Award

CycleSports Bicycles

Cyclesports Bicycles, co-owned by Brian Stone and Tom Pilcher, is "the oldest bike shop in town and it's virtually a ministry for homeless and low-income people who come in and out all day long to get minor repairs done on their bikes for free or at very low cost,” it's nominator wrote.

The shop is located in an area adjacent to a day labor office, homeless shelter and various government and medical services.

“Brian and Tom and their staff always provide a friendly face to people whose lives are often very difficult, helping them all with dignity and respect and helping them keep their bicycles going so that they can get work, shopping and all of their daily needs,” their nomination said.

The Ride Squad

The Ride Squad was created to help manage the Bike Pensacola Slow Rides so that the rides are safe and efficient. The squad has a few dozen members and for each ride about 10–15 members ride along wearing yellow safety vests to help hold intersections open to allow riders to proceed through without stopping. If a rider has a mechanical or medical issue, at least one Ride Squad member pulls over with them to provide any necessary assistance. That way, no rider is ever left behind.

Government Transparency Award

Jacqueline Aimee Rogers

Rogers manages Escambia Citizens Watch, a Facebook group with more than 10,000 followers. The group started 10 years as a forum for people to learn about and discuss importance issues around governance of Escambia County, the city of Pensacola and the state of Florida.

Her nominator wrote, “She also has taken an active role in trying to hold county government accountable to the public they are supposed to be serving.”

The Equity Award

Teniade Broughton

Broughton is referred by her nominator as our area’s “biggest equity advocate in public office.” She was elected to the Pensacola City Council two years ago, but Broughton has long been a voice for equity in our community.

She is one of our area's foremost historians on local African-American heritage and culture. Broughton hosted a Black history tour known as “Highlights in Black,” was heavily involved in efforts to preserve the historic home of one of the city's most influential Black businessmen John Sunday, and was involved in the Equal Justice Initiative's project to collect soil from lynching sites around the country.

The Kukua Institute

The Kukua Institute blends the arts and sciences to helps students, entrepreneurs, inventors and innovators get their dreams off the ground.

Developed and led by Lloyd and Robin Reshard and Lloyd Reshard Jr., the institute was created as a place to grow and share the cultural, intellectual and economic abilities and contributions of African Americans. Its many offerings include a mentoring program, startup grants, training in robotics and virtual reality, and other tools to help people of color pursue socioeconomic and artistic growth and achievement.

Peter Mougey 

Peter Mougey and his wife, Katrina, launched the Dinner on the Grounds as a fundraiser to tackle food and nutrition insecurity in Pensacola. The Mougeys, the American Heart Association and other local leaders teamed up last year to co-found Heart of Pensacola to tackle health and nutrition locally. Together, they provide 500 kids weekly with book bags containing healthy snacks and foods.

They also provide Baptist Hospital, Health & Hope Clinic, Community Health Northwest Florida and the Studer Community Institute with boxes of fresh produce, fruit, vegetables and whole grains, which are picked up by Manna Food Pantries and distributed to families. Since September 2021, over 800 boxes and 6,000 backpacks have been distributed in the community.

Best New Addition to Downtown Pensacola Award

The old Coca Cola building renovation

David Fetter and Bill Wunnenberg, owners of Industrial Energy Services Inc. and Illumadyne, an LED lighting company, purchased the old Hygeia Bottling Work building and renovated into a state-of-the-art facility that is bringing character and jobs to the community.

Built in 1936, the building housed the bottling company until 1967 and had been vacant for several years. The restored building is now office space for their two companies,.

UWF Historic Trust Museum Plaza

The Museum Plaza is a new multi-use and educational community space in downtown Pensacola that helps tell the story of Pensacola’s rich history.

The plaza serves as a central connection point between the Pensacola Museum of History at the University of West Florida, Pensacola Children’s Museum, Voices of Pensacola multicultural center and the Historic Pensacola Village, while doubling as an outdoor classroom that helps the public better understand the historic landscape.

One nominator wrote, the “UWF Historic Trust Museum Plaza is a great example of reclaiming a former parking lot for a wonderful green space available for festivals, concerts or just to hang out.”

The Strong Towns Award

Mount Lily Studios

Mount Lily Studios is being built by a partnership of young Pensacola developers consisting of John David Ellis, Jordan Yee, Alistair McKenzie and Jamaal Warren. Their project is to turn the old Mount Lily Baptist Church on North A Street into six affordable studio apartments, and they say their target market is working-class people. The target rent is $750 a month if construction costs allow.

The Founding Member Award

Brian Wyer

Brian Wyer, president & CEO of the Gulf Coast Minority Chamber of Commerce, was nominated by several people, including a CivicCon Award winner in 2021, Theresa Blackwell, who says “There is no more dependable and congenial presence at CivicCon functions than Brian Wyer. He is also the most seen person at various and sundry government functions. Brian also has volunteered for numerous county selection committees such as the one for the OLF-8 master planner."

Another nominator noted that Wyer is active in over 30 community organizations, where he consistently champions a message of diversity and equity.

The CivicCon Award

D.C. Reeves

D.C. Reeves recently was elected Pensacola’s mayor, but he also has very deep roots with CivicCon. He was one of the original organizers of CivicCon and coordinated many of the early speaker events. He also was a major participant in working with SCAPE, a New York design company that created the Downtown Pensacola Waterfront Framework Plan.

He is an entrepreneur and founded Perfect Plain, a downtown brewery that he recently sold after being elected mayor. He has a strong vision of how Pensacola can become a better place to live for its residents — much of it learned from five years of CivicCon speaker events.

The CivicCon Volunteer Award

Joe Leccese

Joe Leccese was a volunteer at the earliest CivicCon sessions. He was a faithful volunteer from September of 2017 through January of 2020. Of course, the pandemic shut down in-person events for many months and the speakers were pushed to virtual platforms. Soon after in-person events were resumed he came back as a volunteer.

Willa Licata

Willa Licata also regularly attends CivicCon speaker events, and can usually be found in the lobby of The REX Theatre greeting attendees. By day she is a Member Retention & Administration at the Greater Pensacola Chamber, but she also volunteers for Big Brothers Big Sisters, Dixon School of Arts and Sciences and community events at The REX Theatre.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola CivicCon Awards ceremony Monday at REX Theatre downtown