Grant funds Gainesville’s new economic mobility position
Press release from the City of Gainesville
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Ask Eric Estevez, the City of Gainesville’s new economic mobility program manager, to define economic mobility, and he replies, “It means opportunity for all – a key issue that America stands for. I want to see more families from neighborhoods suffering from economic challenges be better off.”
Helping residents in underserved areas climb the economic ladder – through better access to job training and employment opportunities, healthy food and healthcare, small business development, and money management skills – is Estevez’s top priority. He started in the role on April 27.
A former member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives with experience at local, state, and federal levels of government, Estevez understands the value of robust dialogue between residents and elected officials and will draw on his work in the private and nonprofit sectors to strengthen relationships with community partners.
“I want to start at the local level and keep building and moving forward so Gainesville becomes a model for other communities across the state of Florida and the United States to follow,” said Estevez.
The position is funded by the Gates Foundation through a grant administered by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) as part of its Economic Mobility and Opportunity Special Assistants Program.
ICMA selected the City of Gainesville in 2025 as one of 16 communities nationwide to host a senior-level leader dedicated to advancing economic mobility and opportunity efforts across departments and among local stakeholders.
“Eric brings a wealth of talent and skills to the City to help us build on our current transformational projects in East Gainesville and downtown,” said Interim Gainesville City Manager Andrew Persons. “This grant builds on our investment in our community and with our community to create lasting pathways to opportunity for our neighbors.”
The $354,000 ICMA grant funds the position’s salary and program implementation through June 30, 2028; the City is required to provide employment benefits during the grant period.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to move the needle on local priorities over the next two-plus years,” said ICMA CEO/Executive Director Julia D. Novak. “We look forward to seeing how local governments across the country use these funds to develop innovative solutions that address significant issues in their communities.”
Estevez earned both a doctorate in law and public policy and a Master of Science in leadership, global studies and international affairs from Northeastern University, as well as a bachelor’s degree in political science from Barry University. He serves as an adjunct instructor of law and government at Harvard University and Master of Public Administration at Flagler College. He also was appointed to serve on the Dana Farber/Harvard Breast Cancer Center Advocacy Board.
Creating an equitable community for all is a key tenet of the City’s strategic plan.
“I want to see more families from neighborhoods suffering from economic challenges be better off.”
I want to see people get off the welfare, stop the thuggin & gang banging, get off the dope and get a friggin job so I don’t have to subsidized their non productive lifestyles.
Where do they find these people?!
$oc!@l!$ts ‘r’ Us.
So now the techno elite class just directly places and funds city employees for local programs that they need in place for technocratic global governance? You are not paying attention to life if you believe this grant from Bill Gate’s tax evasion and money laundering foundation is meant to create upward economic mobility for Gainesville’s poor.
Ignore the nonstop East Gainesville race baiting diversion. We should never disassociate ‘East Gainesville’ from its highly prized data center and its forthcoming digital surveillance grid hellhole tech utopia plans. The plan is always to destroy and build back better…just not better for us! The tech bros have come home to roost.
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins lays this all out on a much higher level.
This guy has a tough job, “Helping residents in underserved areas climb the economic ladder – through better access to job training and employment opportunities, healthy food and healthcare, small business development, and money management skills” or in other words save the poor people. I’m not sure who writes these for the City of Gainesville, but any idea what this means – “This grant builds on our investment in our community and with our community to create lasting pathways to opportunity for our neighbors.”? Gooberment speak for those of us on the short bus?
Nothing to do with poor people. Or black people either.
“Eric brings a wealth of talent and skills to the City to help us build on our current transformational projects in East Gainesville and downtown”
Per the city’s link there are 5 transformational projects. Although they unsurprisingly list 6.
-Citizens Field/MLK/8th&Waldo,
-GTEC (Cornerstone)
-Downtown
-The Streatery
-Heartwood
-Heritage Trail
Let’s focus on the first two. How does a new high school stadium and gymnasium create upward mobility? How does the cornerstone project, a tech entrepreneur center, help the poorest?
What about the already in progress streatery? Does that help the poorest of people? Nope.
They toss a few bones to placate the masses (i.e. the streatery and heartwood) and then slip in the actual important ones under the guise of racism and economic inequality. The city has been lobbied to hell and back to become a tech utopia. Gates foundation funds tech and pharma developments, not some economic mobility shepherd from New Hampshire.
Everyone forgets we already have thousands of AI surveillance cameras, a data center, smart trash public cans lol, smart phone required public parking, countless small cell sites, etc etc. UF just upgraded the Swamp to triple band Wifi7 (first in nation) and plans to rename it The Microwave. That way you can do neato things like use the new facial recognition system to enter a game with your worthless cash that they won’t accept.
They want to TRAP their most dedicated voters here, so they won’t leave. That’s why.
Technocrat outsider with private money looking to influence and shape city policy.
Too bad he’ll get a warm welcome and huzzahs from all the usual suspects you see in Gainesville Magazine.
Some interesting info (2016):
https://www.concordmonitor.com/2016/08/28/nh-congressional-candidate-eric-estevez-allegations-4347667/
“Estevez graduated with a master’ts degree from Northeastern University and claims to also hold a doctorate in law and public policy from the school. The Boston-based university has no record of Estevez graduating from the doctoral program. Estevez said he has completed all required coursework, but his dissertation is being processed and he hasn’t walked in graduation yet.”
So did he ever get that doctorate he claimed he already had?
OMG WTF can’t they just drop fliers from drones saying “Get off your butts and move!” Instead?
He would have more effect on local poverty working for the courts as a child support enforcement officer, or as a truant officer for the ACSB.
Those “economic challenges” are mostly caused by able bodied people who refuse to work because the government gives them monthly checks and other free stuff. No clueless dude hired by our clueless city commissioners is going to change that. All it will change is higher taxes for those who do work and/or own property, but the city won’t stop the wasteful spending on s**t like this.
“money management skills” should begin at city hall.