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DuPont fund pledges focused housing work and market analysis after meeting with Port St. Joe leaders
Summary
Representatives from the Jesse Ball duPont Fund told the Port St. Joe City Commission they will concentrate grantmaking and staff capacity on workforce housing and neighborhood revitalization, fund a housing market analysis and work to attract flexible capital and capacity-building support for local nonprofits.
PORT ST. JOE, Fla. Sept. 8, 2025 Representatives of the Jesse Ball duPont Fund told the Port St. Joe City Commission on Monday they plan to concentrate grantmaking and staff time in the city on workforce and neighborhood housing initiatives and to support local groups that can deliver housing development and title-remediation services.
Sarah Reardon, identified in the meeting as a program officer with the Jesse Ball duPont Fund, said the foundation has invested more per capita in Port St. Joe than in most of its core communities and that since 2015 it has provided about $5.7 million in grantmaking to the city and region. Reardon said the fund will narrow its priorities to make larger, catalytic investments, with a primary focus on safe, attainable housing for the local workforce and on creating more "vibrant places" to anchor residents.
Chris Crothers, the funddirector of impact investing who spoke after Reardon, described a three-part approach the fund will use locally: gather data (a market-value analysis to be produced by the Reinvestment Fund and a regional planning partner), assess and strengthen local organizational capacity (including support already given to a local community land trust and to the Citizens of Gulf County recovery team), and help assemble capital stacks by introducing community development financial institutions and other investors.
The fund said it will bring the Reinvestment Fund (a national housing-market analysis group) to conduct a market-value analysis focused on Gulf County and Port St. Joe, with work expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2025. Crothers said that analysis will be shared with the city and local developers to inform where and how housing investments can achieve scale and preserve affordability.
Community response was mixed. Several local speakers praised the fundfor previous support of youth and food programs but urged the foundation to prioritize investments that reach larger numbers of residents. One speaker questioned a recent grant the fund made to a local community development corporation, saying the contribution to buy three lots had less impact than the summer program cuts he said the community felt.
Why this matters: Longstanding philanthropic investment can accelerate local housing development and leverage outside capital. The fundplans for a market analysis and capacity-building could provide data and partners needed to develop workforce housing and to help residents clear title problems that obstruct house purchases.
What the commission said: City officials welcomed the focus on housing and said they would continue discussions about possible public-private partnerships, infrastructure requests and how to align city efforts with the fund's planned market analysis and capital-matching work.
Next steps: The fund will arrange the market-value analysis with the Reinvestment Fund and the regional planning council, pursue capacity-building grants to local nonprofit developers and explore ways to mobilize flexible financing for projects already in formation, including a Knowles Avenue redevelopment the fund described as a near-term example.
(Reporting note: statements attributed to fund staff come from remarks recorded during the Sept. 8 commission meeting.)
