Delores Barr Weaver donating $5 million to Sulzbacher for Enterprise Village
The grant through The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida will support the nonprofit homeless services provider’s multibuilding expansion in Northwest Jacksonville.
- By David Crumpler
- | 5:06 p.m. May 15, 2024
- | 4 Free Articles Remaining!
Philanthropist Delores Barr Weaver has committed $5 million through The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida to nonprofit homeless services provider Sulzbacher.
The money will be used for Sulzbacher’s Enterprise Village, a multibuilding expansion in Northwest Jacksonville.
The project continues the group’s plan to relocate from Downtown, where it has been since 1995.
Community Foundation President Isaiah M. Oliver announced the grant May 15 at a Sulzbacher presentation to Downtown and community stakeholders on the future of organization.
The proposed $46 million, three-phase Enterprise Village is on about 17 acres on Walgreen Road west of Interstate 95 and east of Brentwood Golf Course. It will serve homeless men.
Oliver said the foundation looked forward to the next steps in the project’s development under the leadership of Sulzbacher’s president and CEO, Cindy Funkhouser, and its board.
The Community Foundation provided a summary of Weaver’s giving at the nonprofit in an email:
“Delores Barr Weaver has an extraordinary legacy of philanthropy in Northeast Florida since moving to Jacksonville as co-owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1993. Since her historic gift of $50 million in 2012 establishing the Delores Barr Weaver Legacy Fund, she has partnered with The Community Foundation on her philanthropy through numerous, multi-million dollar gifts, including the Foundation’s largest-ever gift of $61 million in 2023.
“She has established permanent endowments for more than four dozen nonprofits, including 20 that receive ongoing annual support through the Delores Barr Weaver Forever Event Fund, est. 2015. Today, her grantmaking exceeds $209 million, with support for more than 300 organizations in Northeast Florida and beyond.”
Sulzbacher hopes to break ground on Enterprise Village by fall, Funkhouser said May 15.
The first phase of Enterprise Village is housing, comprising 100 studio and one-bedroom units and 80 temporary emergency units.
The second is a center for job skills training for residents and the community, and a community health clinic.
The third is an on-site manufacturing facility for the people Sulzbacher serves.
The expansion will provide resources to people and families with limited access to health care, housing, social services, job training and education.
Enterprise Village is expected to be completed by 2026, Funkhouser said.
Sulzbacher operates at 611 E. Adams St., where it provides 80 emergency beds for men, along with services such as meals and medical and behavioral health care.
Its first step in relocating from Downtown was the $21 million Sulzbacher Village, which opened in Brentwood five years ago.
That community is at 5455 Springfield Blvd., where the organization provides transitional housing and services to women and families experiencing homelessness.
Weaver’s legacy of philanthropy in Northeast Florida began when she moved to the area as co-owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1993. She established the Delores Barr Weaver Legacy Fund with a $50 million gift in 2012.
She has since partnered with The Community Foundation through numerous, multimillion-dollar gifts, including the foundation’s largest of $61 million in June 2023.
Weaver established permanent endowments for more than four dozen nonprofits, including 20 that receive ongoing annual support through the Delores Barr Weaver Forever Event Fund.