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Tuesday, March 17, 2026

East Gainesville

More East Gainesville

Bella Rootz pictured at the Hector Gallery on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024.
The Avenue

Gainesville art scene pushes for more outreach to underserved communities

Arts and culture are present in Gainesville through museums, exhibits and music venues scattered around the city. Further developments like a cultural arts center in East Gainesville could continue catering to the expansion, providing people with a place to turn to for support. Community members are concerned more outreach needs to be done to fully immerse underserved communities into art outlets. There are opportunities for people to seek support through the arts, but the accessibility can vary.


Faye Williams at Porters Quarters Community Farm on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024.
Enterprise

Revisiting Porters Quarters: The ongoing challenge with gentrification

Porters Quarters is a historically Black neighborhood in East Gainesville founded in 1884 by Canadian physician Dr. Watson Porter, who only sold real estate to African Americans.  As the neighborhood continues to battle gentrification among student housing and downtown expansions, the lack of communication between the city and the neighborhood worries residents. The most recent construction has left residents perplexed. 


NKwanda Jah sits in her office at Wilhelmina Johnson Center on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022. Jah runs an afterschool science program from her office.
Metro

NKwanda Jah: a lifetime of community advocacy

NKwanda Jah never obtained a degree or had Black female role models throughout the majority of her life. Yet today, she leads the non-profit organization Cultural Arts Coalition, which serves disadvantaged Gainesville residents' needs through summer employment, cultural enrichment programs and after-school programs.


Metro

Proposed East Gainesville cultural arts center strives to uplift community

City Commission plans to bring a cultural arts center to East Gainesville as an effort to support at-risk youth and Black residents. The proposed center aims to provide arts and cultural programming, workforce development, skill cultivation and after-school activities resources, according to a January 2022 General Policy Committee meeting presentation.


GFGS volunteers organize fresh produce and food donations in preparation for their weekly distribution at the Civic Media Center Tuesday, May 16, 2023.
Metro

Gainesville community tackles Eastside food insecurity

A 2023 report by Gainesville Free Grocery Store, a mutual aid food pantry and garden, described East Gainesville neighborhoods abounding with poor-quality food as “food swamps." To combat this, a variety of local activists and organizations have launched efforts to feed food-insecure East Gainesville residents. 


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