{"id":1048123,"date":"2026-09-07T03:47:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T03:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1048123\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T03:47:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T03:47:18","slug":"jacksonville-educator-seeks-community-support-after-nonprofit-hart-house-declared-total-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1048123\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville educator seeks community support after nonprofit Hart House declared total loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. <\/strong> \u2013 A Jacksonville educator and nonprofit founder is asking for community support after a housing program she created for young adults was declared a total loss following what she described as a failed roofing job.<\/p>\n

Stephanie J. Hart said Hart House opened in December 2025 to provide affordable housing and supportive services for young adults ages 18 to 30 who are working toward independence.<\/p>\n

Hart, a Jacksonville native, author, nonprofit founder and public-school educator with more than 32 years of service to Duval County students and families, said the home was created after years of seeing young adults struggle with stable housing and support beyond the classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a mentoring component. We talk about financial literacy; we talk about budgeting,\u201d Hart said. \u201cThey stay for a year at a time, and then hopefully during that time, they\u2019ve built up enough and saved up enough to go to the next phase of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since opening, Hart said three young adults have moved on to careers and greater independence through the program.<\/p>\n

But Hart said the program is now at risk after she hired a licensed contractor in July to replace the roof, expecting the project to take one day.<\/p>\n

On July 28, Hart said she met the contractor at the property before leaving for work. When she returned later that day, she said the roof was sagging, an exterior wall was pulling away from the structure and cracks had spread from the walls into the ceiling beams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just in disbelief. I was in shock. I couldn\u2019t believe it,\u201d Hart said. \u201cAll of my savings went into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next morning, Hart said Jacksonville code enforcement condemned the property and issued an emergency demolition order. Hart said engineers later helped stabilize the structure and the demolition order was lifted, but rain caused the damage to worsen.<\/p>\n

On Aug. 5, Hart said insurance inspectors declared the property a total loss. Two days later, she said the contractor\u2019s insurance company denied coverage because of a policy exclusion.<\/p>\n

Hart said she has retained legal counsel, but the legal process could take time. In the meantime, she said the property continues to deteriorate and additional bracing is needed to prevent another possible emergency demolition order.<\/p>\n

If the city is forced to intervene, Hart said demolition costs could become a lien against the property.<\/p>\n

Hart said she is hoping to connect with construction companies, donors or community members who can help with stabilization, demolition, hauling and eventual rebuilding costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as we don\u2019t give up, we know the breakthrough is coming,\u201d Hart said. \u201cBut in the meantime, we don\u2019t need anything else happening. So that\u2019s why we need help with the demolition and the haul-off.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you would like to help Hart rebuild her nonprofit, you can do so through Hart\u2019s GoFundMe.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cGod is faithful,\u201d Hart said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t bring us this far to stop. This is just a speed bump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville educator and nonprofit founder is asking for community support after a housing program…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1048124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,26459,78208,3188,723,7310,419753,8622,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1048123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-america","tag-dcps","tag-educator","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-jacksonville","tag-needs-community-support","tag-nonprofit","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117227712938025330","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1048123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1048124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1048123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1048123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1048123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}