Makenzie Scott awarded a very special gift to The Boys and Girls of Northeast Florida, spearheaded in downtown Jacksonville. She is the former wife of Jeff Bezos and the fifth wealthiest woman in the world. Scott was granted 4% stake in Amazon after her divorce to Bezos in 2019, valued at 60 billion at the time. Meanwhile, Scott sits at the top of most Forbes lists. After the settlement, she vowed to donate the majority of her wealth and has already donated over 12 billion dollars to nonprofit organizations – including downtown Jacksonville’s own Boys and Girls Club.
The Boys and Girls Club of Northeast, Florida is a nonprofit organization designed to help enable youth in underserved communities. The founders’ vision was to transform young people into caring, responsible citizens who reach their full potential. Additionally, the club offers a number of programs to empower kids including sports and recreation, health and wellness, educational support, and other character building classes.
The 6.8 million dollar grant will go toward large growth in the Jacksonville area. The organization plans to develop 17 new clubs by the end of 2025. As the poverty rates in Jacksonville are higher than national average for metropolitan cities, therefore, this will be recognized as a big win for a hopeful city, especially the much needed areas downtown Jacksonville.
HEADQUARTERED IN THE HEART OF DOWNTOWN JACKSONVILLE
The Boys and Girls Club’s charitable work is led from their headquarters in our downtown Jacksonville office. Although some of downtown has suffered due to covid. We are starting to see a resurgence of for-profit and nonprofit tenants moving into downtown office spaces for lease. 10 South Newnan Street is one of the very few downtown Jacksonville office spaces that is not for lease. Currently, every unit is occupied by an incredible business or nonprofit organization on long-term lease agreements. Boys and Girls Club was the most recent to sign a 5-year lease agreement.
Therefore, as more businesses move into downtown Jacksonville office spaces, the skyline will begin to change. Including ours too! To illustrate, in the past couple of months we have had the pleasure of seeing a 14-foot mural of children smiling together go up on the very wall of our downtown Duval building.
LEARN MORE ABOUT DOWNTOWN
In a word, if you enjoyed reading about our tenants’ success in their leased office space, you can learn more about other nonprofit organizations that rent office space in our downtown Jacksonville building on the first floor! Or find an office for rent downtown by visiting our available downtown properties listing on the downtownduval.com website.