Vice President Pence Visits Jacksonville for Re-Entry Roundtable

Jacksonville Re-Entry Roundtable. From left, Vice President Mike Pence, Operation New Hope Founder/CEO Kevin Gay, White House Advisor Ivanka Trump, HUD Jacksonville Field Office Director Alesia Scott-Ford, Florida Blue North Florida President Darnell Smith, Florida's Fourth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Melissa Nelson.

On Friday July 26, 2019 Vice President Michael Pence, White House Advisor Ivanka Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the HUD Jacksonville team participated in a Re-Entry Roundtable in Jacksonville. Hosted by Operation New Hope Executive Director Kevin Gay, its goal was to promote awareness to generate community discussions around the needs of ex-offenders.

During the Roundtable Advisor Ivanka Trump announced that there were 12 million pledges nationwide for job training and employment, and Vice President acknowledged that Jacksonville is a City of Second Chances through the work and efforts of Operation New Hope.

Operation New Hope is one of the leaders in re-entry programs in the country; it has partnered with more than 600 businesses to provide a qualified pool of candidates who are motivated to work and become productive citizens of society.

HUD has a partnership with Operation New Hope and in March of 2017 helped them launch the Jacksonville Port Academy to provide the missing link: Access to training resources for ex-offenders from the surrounding community to acquire varied essential skills for target positions at the Port of Jacksonville. Their jobs pay an average annual salary of $51,000 which is above the Jacksonville area average wage of $38,000. The port is a regional economic engine creating abundant new job opportunities in North Florida.

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