Public Relations: Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday

Poverty is a viscous, generational cycle that affects millions of Americans. At some point, action must be taken within these communities so the cycle can end. Jacksonville’s 32209 zip code is one of the poorest and most violent areas in the city. Sponsored by Grace is a faith-based nonprofit that has been helping out this community one day at a time by providing sponsorships and programs for the underprivileged children living in the Vista Landing apartments. For more information about donating or volunteering, we urge you to visit our website at sponsored-by-grace dot org

Facebook:

Sponsored by Grace is seeking donations from people who want to make a difference in the lives of young children living in poverty right here in Jacksonville. By donating as little as $56 a month you can sponsor an individual child. Sponsored by Grace is attempting to empower underprivileged children in the Jacksonville area and your donations are instrumental in accomplishing this goal. Consider making a difference today, and visit our website for more information. https://sponsoredbygrace.org/#

Twitter:

By donating as little as $56 a month you could be instrumental in changing the life of an underprivileged child living right here in Jacksonville. Consider donating to make a difference today, and visit our website for more information. https://sponsoredbygrace.org/# #nonprofit #charity #community #donate

Instagram:

By donating as little as $56 a month you could be instrumental in changing the life of an underprivileged child living right here in Jacksonville. Consider donating to make a difference today, and visit our website for more information. https://sponsoredbygrace.org/# #nonprofit #charity #community #donate

Bridging the Gap: Food Deserts Rampant in Poor Communities

If you were to break up the communities in your city or county by zip code, you would come to find that the zip codes with the most restricted access to fresh food tend to be uneducated, minority dense and disparagingly poor. This data is supported by a 2009 case study known as The Grocery Gap that analyzed the types of communities food deserts affect the most. Our own 32209 community, that Sponsored by Grace serves, has been referred to as a food desert by many of its residents as well as our executive director, Ron Armstrong.

“The Vista Landing apartment community (in the 32209 zip code) is essentially a food desert because there is a single convenience store and very few (of our residents) have cars.”

• Ron Armstrong, Sponsored by Grace Executive Director

It is no surprise to anyone who has lived in a low income rural or urban area to hear their community referred to as a “food desert.” However, those of us who were fortunate enough to live within a couple miles of a grocery store that had fresh fruits, vegetables and meat products most likely never understood or even considered the concept of a food desert. These communities without access to readily available fresh food do exist and are closer to our well-off communities than we realize.

Large grocery chains, such as Walmart, Winn Dixie or Publix, avoid building stores in these localities because the areas generally have high crime activity, and the residents do not act as a monetary incentive because of their extreme lack of funds. The unique combination of two primary factors will define an area as a food desert. One, the lack of a fresh food supermarket within a reasonable distance. Two, the inability of the residents to travel to the more distant supermarkets. The extreme poverty in these areas severely limits the mobility of the residents. Naturally, in cases of extreme poverty the most important needs, such as food and shelter, come before the need for transportation. If an individual is without a car in a food desert, then they are limited to whatever nutrition is within walking distance. Many poor urban areas have bus systems in order to combat this issue; however, not everyone in these poor urban areas can afford a bus pass, and even then, the amount of groceries one can carry while on us a bus is limited to a few bags at the most.

Food deserts are more rampant in communities near you than you most likely know because the  lack of personal transportation in these poor communities can create a food desert that essentially functions in a microcosm. Neighborhoods that you may drive past every day on your way to work could very well be food deserts for the residents living in them. Imagine the burden of having to walk to a supermarket to buy your fresh fruits, vegetables and meats and then carrying them all back. Even if the supermarket you frequent is only a mile away from your house, how often would you realistically want to go and pick up some groceries on foot? Through donations and volunteers, Sponsored by Grace seeks to improve areas that struggle with readily available access to fresh food, such as the 32209 zip code, through education and community involvement. By donating to SBG, you are supporting the betterment of a food desert in your very own city.

By: William Crockett IV

Donors are my target audience. I will refer to them as WWFs, or wealthy white folks.

The 32259 area is one of the wealthiest zip codes in Jacksonville, with an annual median income of over $100,000. They are well educated as 97% have graduated high school and 63% of those ages 35 to 44 have attained a bachelor’s degree. 53% of all ages in the 32259 zip code have attained a bachelor’s degree.

The majority of the people living in this area are older, over 40, overwhelmingly white (90%) and 84.5% are married. Single individuals are an extremely small minority in the 32259 zip code. Only 3% of those individuals are single men, and only 8% are single women. Even less of those single individuals have children under 18 years old, 1.9% of men and 5.5% of women.

99.7% of individuals in the 32259 zip code live in households, and only 4.3% live below the poverty level. Blacks are the biggest minority; however, they only make up 3.6% of the total population. Asians follow closely behind at 3.1% of the population.

There may be some misconceptions about how wealthy individuals, and families, spend their money. The drug fueled spending sprees depicted in movies such as the “Wolf of Wallstreet” do not accurately represent how the wealthy choose to spend their earnings. The information presented in the next two paragraphs is provided from research conducted in a 2018 study by eMarketer.

One of the several poles involved in the study found that half of the individuals who earn 100,000 or more often worry about their finances. Wealthy consumers are also just as likely to browse various retailers in order to find the best deal as non-affluent consumers are. Beyond housing, the biggest expense affluent consumers have is the purchase of vehicles. Whether that be cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats or even aircrafts.

One of the several key takeaways from this study is to understand that wealthy consumers are still very similar to regular consumers. The vast majority of wealthy consumers still work very hard for the money and will only spend it on things they feel will help them in some justifiable way. Affluent consumers are just as careful with their spending as non-afflent consumers. So, one should not approach wealthy marketing with any less consideration than low income consumer marketing. 

People who have acquired wealth are generally more intelligent than those who have not. Therefore, wealthy people are going to more skeptical of information that less wealthy people take in regularly. A wealthy individual’s primary source of information will mostly depend on age. However, we can assume that these wealthy individuals subscribe to news sources that update them on new technology, pertain to their multitude of hobbies, or that provide reporting on international subjects. Their secondary source of information would most likely be the opinions of their friends and family. This is because wealthy people are largely family-oriented, and many of them remain married until their twilight years.

Feb. 19, 2020

Jacksonville, Fla.

Bill Gates Makes a Large $ Donation to Jacksonville-Based Nonprofit Sponsored by Grace

What:             Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, philanthropist and titan of industry, has donated $500,000 to Sponsored by Grace and will attend a press conference today where Sponsored by Grace executive director Ron Armstrong will announce how his organization plans to use the money.

Where:           123 Cleveland Ave., Jacksonville, Fla.

When:            Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020 at 3 p.m.

Why:              To acknowledge Bill Gates’ donation and announce Sponsored by Grace’s future

plans.

Who:              Bill Gates and Sponsored by Grace executive director Ron Armstrong

For more information contact:

William J. Crockett IV

willcrockett32@gmail.com

904-445-0399

###

Jacksonville Based Nonprofit Sponsored by Grace Pursues Additional Funding to Open New Headquarters by Q4 2020

Jacksonville, Fla., Feb. 12, 2020 – Sponsored by Grace founder Ron Armstrong seeks funding  to renovate SBG’s new headquarters by the close of 2020. The new headquarters will be located across the street from the Vista Landing apartments, and it will give SBG a permanent foothold in the apartments and, more importantly, the 32209 zip code as a whole.

Sponsored by Grace focuses their efforts in the Vista Landing apartments to provide sponsorship for the underprivileged children living there as well as to support the community as a whole. SBG’s works every day to ensure that they’re doing their part to turn the “worst zip code in Jacksonville… into the most hopeful zip code,” said founder Ron Armstrong.

SBG currently sponsors nine children living in the Vista Landing apartments but will open  up sponsorship for another nine after funding is secured for renovations, according to Armstrong.

While community involvement is a key component of Sponsored by Grace’s mission to empower the Vista Landing community, the organization relies solely on charitable donations to supplement its endeavors in the community. Sponsoring one of SBG’s children only costs $56 a month. That $56 provides the child with school uniforms, a hot meal once a week, four trips a year to locations outside the community and transportation to church and Empowerment and skills classes.

To learn more about donating to SBG visit the website. All further donations, after the $56 is covered, go to the purchase and renovation of the new headquarters.

About Sponsored by Grace

SBG is a completely unique organization in that it attempts to fight the cycle of poverty at a local level instead of in another country. Poverty and starvation occur right here in Jacksonville, and if you can contribute as little as $56 a day then you could help better the life of a child struggling to survive in your own city. Sponsored by Grace seeks to release children from poverty in Jacksonville  by meeting their physical needs, sharing the gospel, and connecting them with a local faith family.

For more information contact:

William J. Crockett IV

904-445-0399

willcrockett32@gmail.com

2. Sponsored by Grace directs all of its services towards Jacksonville communities that are stricken by the cycle of poverty.

3. Sponsored by Grace breaks the cycle of poverty by empowering members of their community through education and the love of Jesus Christ.