I am James F. Lawrence, President and CEO of Gainesville for All, Inc., a social advocacy nonprofit I helped found in 2016 with the support of The Gainesville Sun, the Community Foundation of North Central Florida, and local businessman Mitch Glaeser.

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A native of Orlando, I am a proud graduate of Jones High School and Howard University. I am a retired journalist with more than 50 years of experience in the field. I began my career at the Black-owned Cleveland Call and Post in Cleveland, Ohio, and retired in 2014 as the longest-serving editorial page editor of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Upstate New York’s second-largest newspaper.

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Throughout my journalism career, I was committed to advocating for meaningful change. Today, I especially enjoy being deeply engaged at the grassroots level, working directly in the community to help create the change I have long championed.