JACOBSVILLE AREA COMMUNITY CORPORATION (JACC)
The Jacobsville Area Community Corporation (JACC) was formally organized and became a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation in 2002 (intending to become a Community Based Development Organization [CBDO]) but has earlier roots. In the mid/late 1990's (after the City of Evansville created the Jacobsville Redevelopment Plan) representatives of Berry Plastics, Central United Methodist Church, Deaconess Hospital, ECHO Housing and the Jacobsville Neighborhood Improvement Associate along with persons in city government (Department of Metropolitan Development [DMD] staff and City Councilperson) came together at the invitation of Rev. Mac Hamon, pastor of Central at that time. The "Mary Street Corridor" group met through mid 2000 and was looking at ways to improve the Jacobsville area, especially along Mary Street from Downtown to Deaconess with beautification, street improvement, and new housing development. A pastoral change at Central UMC disrupted the meeting for a few months, but in the spring of 2001 the new pastor Joseph Easley re-convened the group. It has been meeting monthly since, and the coalition of people and groups involved has expanded to include representatives of other businesses, banks, housing groups, etc.
Since 2002 JACC with significant help from D.M.D. has sought to have its target area become a Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA), which would make it eligible for funding that will bring new money to the city of Evansville. It plans to work with all interested parties in the neighborhood and the City. With funds allocated by the city from the 2003 federal government's Community Development Block Grant program of the Department of Housing and Urban Development JACC was able to have the Jacobsville Redevelopment Plan updated and expanded, so as to guide economic development (housing and other improvements) in a historic neighborhood adjacent to downtown. The final version of the new Master Plan was delivered in early 2004. The time seemed right to move ahead on implementing it, while a significant coalition exists to support it and the neighborhood had all the basic services of a sustainable community, meaning it could again be a desirable, mixed-income neighborhood. In 2005 the Evansville Redevelopment Commission adopted the Plan as its own plan for the area, expanded its redevelopment area to include a larger part of the plan's area, and ask JACC to serve as a design review group for building requests for the area that need the Commission's approval.