As anyone would, Zoie Kohn had a hard time leaving the community that raised her. Especially when the only factor preventing her from staying was the lack of affordable housing. As a single mother of three, a two-bedroom apartment was not cutting it. 

“It used to get cramped. I just got fed up with paying rent. Rent kept increasing just about every year, and I just wanted more,” said Kohn.

Affordable housing is the leading factor preventing people from living out their American dream. However, with some hard work and the help of a local nonprofit, Beaches Habitat for Humanity, many are able to make this dream a reality.

In early 2019, Kohn reached out to Beaches Habitat in hopes of creating a safe and stable living environment for her and her kids. She filled out the lengthy application that Habitat uses to vet their applicants. In her application, she explained her situation. Jacksonville Beach has been her home her whole life and she wanted to raise her kids in the same place. Her job and frankly her entire life were at the beaches. 

Habitat’s selection committee chooses new homeowners based on three criteria: their willingness to partner with Habitat, their ability to repay a mortgage with the help of an affordable payment plan, and the applicant’s level of needs. If chosen, they must invest at least 300 hundred hours of labor, this Habitat calls sweat equity. 

Kohn said she didn’t think she would get selected. But a few months later she got a call, she would be a homeowner. 

Only a few months later she was working on her house. Kohn said it was a challenge, however “it makes me appreciate my home even more to know the hard work I put into it.”

Kristine Garcia is another Habitat resident who was building her house. “It’s hard work, but it’s my hard work,”  Garcia says “I’ve slammed my fingers and stapled my fingers.” She continued, joking about the unexpected importance of a hard hat. 

Development Director, Mary-Anne Christensen, who helped both Kohn and Garcia through the process, she said this sweat equity is what makes Habitat’s program “a hand up, not a handout.”

By the beginning of 2020, Kohn had a home. “My kids go to great schools, there’s a community center right down the street from us. This is a house they can grow up in, I can settle down in. and that I one day can pass down to them.” Kohn said.

Applicants can expect the application process to take anywhere from one to three months. Potential applicants are recommended to attend an optional informational meeting. From there, the applicant must submit a completed application providing documentation related to family status, income, etc. Their credit, criminal records, and basic requirements are then reviewed by the committee. To ensure the applicant understands the responsibilities of homeownership and the Habitat mission, they are interviewed, and a home visit is completed. The applicant is then presented to the Family Selection Committee for approval and notified of a decision. If the applicant is selected, they then begin their sweat equity requirements alongside volunteers and other homeowners working with Habitat.

Habitat for Humanity offers many different ways to volunteer, providing an option for everyone. These options include local and travel options. Volunteers can come both individually or part of a group, and there are even special events.

If looking to apply for homeownership or just to volunteer, visit www.beacheshabitat.org

In Jacksonville, a fun night out can turn deadly at any moment. Brynn Turner and his friend Julio Gomez were walking down Second Street to the beach bars when a car came speeding towards them. The car crashed into them, sending Turner over 100 feet to his death, and injuring Julio.

This isn’t the first time this has happened, and it won’t be the last. Drinking and driving is not an uncommon occurrence in Jacksonville, particularly at the beaches. The River City was ranked as the third-highest city in Florida for fatal DUI crashes per capita, according to a study by Lending Tree.

The driver of the car, Joshua Lovingood, was a local bartender who had been drinking that night. At the time of the crash, his blood-alcohol level (BAH) was measured at 0.228, almost 3 times above the legal limit. 

Walking around the scene of the accident, Savannah Taylor, a close friend of Turner’s described the scene as “absolutely horrifying.” “This is just something that shouldn’t have happened,” she says. The area is residential and the speed limit is only 25 mph. Taylor has been going to Jacksonville City Council to push for change. She says “I am frustrated and I do not want anyone to feel how I felt. I do not want this to happen again to anyone else.”

Turner loved to go on surf trips, Taylor says, “He saw opportunities and was deliberate in what he did. It inspired me to live more like him.” He wanted to be a surgeon, and he was a genetics major at Clemson University with a double minor in philosophy and microbiology. Taylor says “Brynn was the least deserving person I know” and he always wanted to help others.

The epicenter of Jacksonville’s DUI epidemic is the beaches area, where the majority of DUI arrests are made, according to Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office arrest data. Some of the streets with the highest arrest rates were Atlantic Boulevard, Beach Boulevard, and Third Street, a portion of A1A. All of these streets lead to and from the popular beach bars.

However, with the concentrated police enforcement and the regularity of DUI’s in the area, law-abiding citizens can fall victim to traffic stops. Lewis Fusco, a local DUI defense attorney for Fusco Law says he has seen situations where, “Individuals who go out and had one beer, which is per se, not illegal to go out and drive. Then have their world turned upside down by the assumption they are drunk.”

The best way drivers can protect themselves is to keep their documents, such as license, registration, and proof of insurance in an easily accessible place. Fusco says “A lot of times police are looking for whether you produce the documents in a timely manner, and are you fumbling for the items.” 

The shortest waiting period for sobering up is 45 minutes after each drink. However, some people take longer to sober up than others, so 45 minutes is not the be all end all. If it is in question whether someone should be behind the wheel, the safest thing to do is to wait.

If you see or know of someone drinking and driving, the best thing you can do to save a life is to call local authorities or 911.