EpicJax® challenges our community to embrace ambitious expectations, civic leadership, and an intolerance for inaction
An initiative of the Jacksonville Civic Council, 
brings together leaders from business, government, and the nonprofit sector to tackle the City’s most pressing issues. The goal is to turn inaction into progress, by focusing on solutions that move the needle toward becoming a world-class city.
EpicJax® accelerates solutions through fast-paced, outcome-driven “Sprints.” Each 90-day sprint focuses on a sole outcome. By the end of the 90 days the goal is to advance ambitious-yet-achievable solutions, create a plan and identify partners to turn epic ideas into actionable strategies for progress. The effort begins with 90-day “warm-ups” during which community members learn, inquire and research the issue before ideating on truly informed, epic possibilities.
Past Warm Ups
Downtown Strikeforce
The Downtown Strike Force (DTSF) was launched in October 2024 to address growing challenges in Jacksonville’s urban core in support of our Connect strategy. The group focused on three urgent priorities: strengthening security, improving amenities and services, and advancing infrastructure and investment. The goal was clear—to create a Downtown where employers want to stay, people feel safe, and the city meets the expectations of a world-class destination.
As the DTSF advanced its work, a central insight emerged: meaningful progress cannot happen without a strong fiscal foundation. From public safety to homelessness, infrastructure to services, every challenge was tied to how the city raises and manages its resources. This led to the creation of the Municipal Finance Strike Force, tasked with analyzing Jacksonville’s financial health and recommending strategies to ensure the city’s finances support long-term growth and opportunity.
Jacksonville’s Identity
Our Jacksonville’s Identity Warm-Up explored fundamental questions about who Jacksonville is — our core DNA, the story we tell, and how we are perceived inside and outside the region. This work highlighted the incredible opportunity to build a stronger, more unified narrative that reflects Jacksonville’s strengths and potential during a time of rapid growth.
Rather than focusing on logos or slogans, this effort revisits Jacksonville’s foundational identity and the three pillars identified in earlier research: our natural environment, our culture of wide-open possibility, and our history as a hub of exchange. Today, that work has advanced into active research targeting our Inspire strategy, aimed at refreshing these pillars and shaping an authentic vision for Jacksonville’s future.
Neighborhoods & Place
The Neighborhoods & Place Warm-Up explored how Jacksonville can become a city where residents move easily, feel safe, and stay connected. Leaders examined barriers such as underutilized public spaces, limited amenities, safety concerns, and outdated policies — while also surfacing opportunities to create more vibrant, equitable neighborhoods. Despite the presence of world-class projects, the city struggles with low public awareness and engagement, signaling the need for more intentional storytelling and inclusive planning.
Using design thinking, participants generated epic ideas ranging from flexible permitting and community-driven design standards to activating vacant spaces through partnerships and cultural programming. These insights will set the stage for a future 90-day Sprint supporting our Connect strategy that will test and refine solutions, with the goal of building walkable, connected neighborhoods that strengthen health, civic engagement, and quality of life across Jacksonville.
Past Sprints
Digital Literacy
Beginning in Summer 2024, a group of Jacksonville community leaders came together with a shared vision to help Jacksonville’s high school graduates become work-force ready and digitally literate as part of our Prepare strategy. During a 90-day sprint, the team developed the EpicJax® Digital Literacy Challenge, a bold initiative designed to empower students across Jacksonville to develop critical digital literacy skills while actively addressing the growing digital divide.
Public Safety
In just 90 days, the EpicJax® Sprint Team designed a framework to increase park activation in Jacksonville by 25%, supporting our Advance strategy of improving public safety. This framework was piloted at Lonnie C. Miller Sr. Regional Park and Johnnie W. Walker Park & Community Center, combining infrastructure improvements, enhanced security, community programming, and quick wins to boost safety and engagement.
The framework integrates infrastructure improvements, enhanced security measures, and community programming to transform these parks into safe, active hubs of connection and resilience. Each recommendation includes Quick Wins, ensuring immediate visible progress while larger, long-term projects are implemented. EpicJax® is preparing for a second Sprint focused on scaling this impact. We are actively seeking implementation partners to help expand park activation across more neighborhoods, ensuring that Jacksonville’s public spaces become safe, active hubs of connection and resilience.
Quality Early Learning
In September 2024, civic and community leaders came together to address the critical challenge of expanding access to high-quality early learning in Jacksonville, advancing the Civic Council’s Prepare strategy.
Through six warm-up sessions, local leaders explored policies and opportunities to strengthen early learning in Jacksonville. This work led to Strong Starts, Bright Futures — the city’s first collaborative early learning campaign, uniting organizations across Duval with a shared message. The campaign aims to boost enrollment in Florida’s free Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) program, educate families on the benefits of early learning, and address misconceptions that limit participation. The Civic Council and partners are now reviewing the campaign’s impact and will determine next steps to build on its momentum and advance long-term progress in kindergarten readiness.
Small Business Policy
In March 2025, civic and community leaders came together to strengthen Jacksonville’s small business ecosystem as part of the Civic Council’s Advance strategy. Through the EpicJax® Warm-Up process, leaders examined how small businesses participate in the local economy, identified barriers, and explored opportunities for growth.
The team voted to launch a 90-day Sprint focused on advocating for a city ordinance or procurement policy change that limits contract bundling and expands access to unbundled bidding, ensuring a fairer, more competitive playing field for Jacksonville’s small business community. Working alongside subject experts, including the Jacksonville Small & Emerging Business (JSEB) team, the Sprint uncovered an encouraging reality: the authority to unbundle contracts already exists in Jacksonville’s procurement code, and JSEB is actively implementing it. Building on this foundation, the Civic Council and partners are preparing for a 2026 Sprint relaunch to explore another epic idea that will support our small businesses.
