2025 A Year of Progress for Jacksonville

By Mayor Donna Deegan

In the final days of 2025, I want to take a moment to reflect on what we’ve accomplished together. This has been a year of moving Jacksonville forward.

We’ve been laser focused on affordability. More than 6,000 below market rate housing units are completed or in progress. Our nation-leading telehealth program for uninsured patients has saved millions in emergency room costs. And we launched the Duval Care Coalition to ensure that neighbors in need have food to put on the table.

Real progress is being made in downtown Jacksonville. Thousands of families are already enjoying the Riverfront Plaza and RiversEdge Parks. Cranes are in the air on multiple developments that will increase housing and retail options, and we finalized the agreement to build the new University of Florida graduate campus.

Jacksonville is a great place to own a small business. We opened the first Entrepreneurship Workforce Development Center in Brentwood and additional locations are now available around the city. Support programs were created for disabled and veteran entrepreneurs and we continued to reduce the time it takes to get a permit.

Public safety remains a top priority, and our investments show just that. First responders received a second year of salary increases after we negotiated a historic agreement in 2024. We funded a new training facility for firefighters and launched a Mobile Stroke Unit that will save lives when minutes matter.

Progress is being made in disinvested neighborhoods. We’ve increased our urban core infrastructure investments by more than $80 million dollars and projects are being moved to the front of the line. The NFL-leading $300 million community benefits agreement that we negotiated with the Jacksonville Jaguars is on the way.

Literacy rates are rising. Our River City Readers program had another stellar year with more than 3.2 million total minutes read and a brand new bookmobile. Two schools saw gains of more than 40% from an afterschool pilot program we launched, and the third grade literacy rate more than doubled countywide thanks to the wonderful educators at DCPS.

As we head into 2026, I’m more optimistic than ever about Jacksonville’s future. We have a clear shared vision and a community that is working together to bring it to fruition.

Here’s to the year ahead and all we’ll accomplish in 2026.

With gratitude,

Donna Deegan Mayor, City of Jacksonville