Mayo Jacksonville gifts $5 million for Sulzbacher housing, health care and training plan
Jacksonville's Mayo Clinic has donated $5 million toward Sulzbacher's planned Enterprise Village, a $75.6 million complex that will initially provide affordable housing for single formerly homeless men and health care and job training for the entire community.
A later phase will add a manufacturing plant that will offer jobs making modular affordable housing.
Sulzbacher, which provides comprehensive services for the homeless, has already raised about $42.4 million in donations or pending commitments toward the total cost, not including the Mayo gift.
The local nonprofit is expected to have the initial project under construction by the end of next year and complete by 2025. No date has been set for the opening of the manufacturing facility.
Mayo Clinic, which has collaborated with Sulzbacher on various health care needs since 2008, will become "Healthcare Partner" for Enterprise Village, according to its CEO, Dr. Kent Thielen.
"Mayo Clinic is committed to being a positive force in the Jacksonville community," he said. "We are thrilled to deepen our partnership with Sulzbacher as together we seek ways to innovatively address healthcare needs."
The funds will be used to provide space at Enterprise Village for primary care, behavioral health, optical and dental services, as well as a pharmacy. Sulzbacher's health centers, classified as Federally Qualified Health Centers, offer comprehensive healthcare to anyone in the community in need.
Mayo also will "work with Sulzbacher to design access to its virtual care capabilities and services," according to the clinic.
"We are extremely humbled and grateful for this amazing investment from our longtime friend and partner Mayo Clinic," said Cindy Funkhouser, Sulzbacher CEO. "As the 'Healthcare Partner' sponsor for our new … campus, Mayo has shown its commitment to health equity for every person in Jacksonville. Mayo Clinic investing in the largest health desert in our city will hopefully motivate and inspire others to invest. This investment is a game-changer for Sulzbacher, the people we serve and the entire city."
The Mayo gift is the largest made by a private entity in the nonprofit's history, she said.
Sulzbacher facilities
Enterprise Village is to be built on 16.8 acres at Interstate 95's Golfair Boulevard exit on Walgreen Road. An earlier proposed site was a former Superfund site, also in Northwest Jacksonville.
Both sites have been controversial with residents, some of whom perceive the predominantly Black northwest part of the city as being used for potentially unpopular projects.
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The City Council approved the current site after Sulzbacher officials and the developers said they understood residents' concerns. The project will include neighborhood improvements and a health clinic that will be open to neighborhood residents, among other things.
Enterprise Village's $36 million first phase would be apartment units. The $41 million second phase would include a health center, with a clinic and assisted living and recovery units; an emergency housing and administration building; and a job training and education building. A cost estimate for the manufacturing facility is not yet available.
After Enterprise Village opens, Sulzbacher's homeless center on East Adams Street near the jail, will close. The city-owned property will revert back to City Hall, Funkhouser said. Urban Rest Stop, which provides showers, laundry, meals, health care and employment assistance, among other things, will relocate from the downtown shelter to another site, she said.
The nonprofit also runs the $21 million Sulzbacher Village that opened in 2018 on 44th and Pearl streets. The subsidized permanent housing community is for formerly homeless women, children and families.
Mayo Clinic/Sulzbacher partnership
Since their partnership began, Mayo has provided Sulzbacher with medical assistance and expertise, participated in mobile health care programs and assisted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayo employees volunteer at its health centers and on its board of directors.
In June, Mayo launched its Learners Community Clinic at Sulzbacher that provides primary care, family medicine and cardiology services for needy patients and clinical education to residents and fellows.
The $5 million gift is in addition to about $323,000 in grants Mayo awarded last month to Sulzbacher and 27 other area organizations and programs. Those grants were intended to help address key community health needs identified in the Northeast Florida Community Health Needs Assessment.
The latest report in 2022 revealed mental health, chronic disease and lack of access to care as ongoing issues. They were exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and longtime health care inequities, according to the report.
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The new funding comes after a recent administrative restructuring at Sulzbacher that created three division president positions, with Funkhouser remaining at the helm as CEO.
Leah Lynch was named president of the Hope Division, focusing on enterprise and education programs; Brian Snow, president of the Housing Division, focusing on emergency and permanent housing programs; and Dr. Colleen Bell, president of the Healthcare Division, overseeing the downtown adult health center, pediatric health center at Sulzbacher Village, Beaches satellite health center, medical respite facility and mobile health programs.
bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Mayo Jacksonville: $5 million to Sulzbacher housing, health care
