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[the_ad id="159705"]by Lynn Jones-Turpin – The First Coast Leadership Foundation (FCLF) CEO Nahshon Nicks and COO Siottis Jackson have teamed up to S.E.A.L (Social Emotional Academic Learning) the deal through martial arts and P.U.N.C.H. (Prevention Under Nutritional Clinical Health) out and dispel the rumors of African American health disparities in Duval County. The two community advocates have collaborated their ideas to revitalize, mobilize and strategize the issues surrounding youth development and civic engagement.
The plan is to execute higher standards for teens to provoke youth advocacy in their communities. During the pandemic the team has maintained 26 employees, conducted job fairs, and held empowerment conferences for boys and men ages 9 to 65 in person and virtual. In addition, the team has distributed more than 30K in food distribution throughout the city and was awarded an $8400 grant in funding from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency for mentoring males ages 5 to 18. Their presence is also known in thirteen schools, public, charter and private in Duval County and is impacting more than 500 youth.
Besides leading by example as Black males, their focus is on the upcoming election to mobilize voters and partnering with out of state funders for long term commitments to register and galvanize voters.
Currently their team has registered more than 100,000 voters throughout Duval County and the state of Florida.
“When it comes to voting, we have to keep people engaged all year long and keep elected officials accountable. We put them in, we can take them out,” said Jackson.
Their shared goal is to put the power of the vote back in the hands of the people. Jackson is collecting data to gauge what people care about, how bills are drafted and how the state legislative process works in Tallahassee. Focusing on the youth programs, Nicks, a former cage fighter says, “You have to stimulate individual’s censors. We have to release the hostility in our youth,” he said. The duo will continue to work together to serve as leadership models to blaze trails and build on community qualitative and quantitative results. Shown l-r is the duo Nashon Nicks and Siottis Jackson fighting for peace and justice.
