Pioneer Bay CDC begins new chapter

J. Richard Benderson, the new fulltime chief executive officer of the North Port St. Joe Community Development Corporation, grew up in a paper mill town.

Just not Port St. Joe.

It was Demopolis, Alabama, a town about 50 miles west of Selma, and that’s a big reason why the veteran city and regional planner is confident he has the familiarity and the experience to make a difference in his new role.

“We have so many people who are born and raised here, and there’s the challenge of different factions,” he said, as part of an interview last month in North Port St. Joe, a neighborhood that historically was the African-American hub of a community where the paper mill played an enormous role.

“Every person who lives in the community, regardless of how they feel about anything, wants to have a nice neighborhood, a nice place for their children to play, where they can be safe and their parents can be safe,” he said. “That’s what everybody wants, most decent, common American citizens. You got to start there and there’s a level of trust that has to be built as well and that doesn’t happen overnight.”

In November, Benderson was brought in as the first fulltime CEO of a sweeping overhaul of the Pioneer Bay Community Development Corporation, a six-year-old 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the revitalization of North Port St. Joe.

Pioneer Bay, which was launched in 2018 with support from the North Port St. Joe Project Area Coalition, also changed its name to the North Port St. Joe CDC, which the leadership said “marks a shift towards working more actively in partnership with Port St. Joe officials while developing a resilient, prosperous, safe and equitable community for all residents.”

“It’s more than a name change,” said Benderson. “My intent is to be an anchor organization in this community; I can’t say that it has been that, where people go when they’re looking at housing, whatever issue they have.”

In his first months on the job. Benderson has worked to firm up ties with the organizations’ partners, such as Gulf Coast Recovery and North Florida Legal Services, as well as elected officials and government leaders.

“We all work together and move the ball forward,” he said.

As Benderson tackles the job, he works against a backdrop where Pioneer Bay has worked on projects that increase access to affordable housing, address environmental injustices, and create economic opportunities for local residents. They have initiatives including the North Port St. Joe Environmental Job Training Program, disaster relief efforts, environmental cleanup activities and community engagement events.

“We are excited to enter this new chapter with a stronger brand and new full-time leadership,” said Dannie Bolden, local consultant for the North Port St. Joe CDC. “We remain dedicated, alongside our volunteer board, to bringing new opportunities to the residents of North Port St. Joe, while advancing our ongoing campaign for environmental justice.”

Benderson, 50, has been working in local and county governments for the last 20-plus years, including in Selma, south Georgia, Daytona Beach and South Florida.

He previously served as a cooperative development specialist at the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, where he led programs to advance community growth and resilience. 

“It puts me in a unique place to try to get some real traction,” he said. “Building some trust and respect of the community is key to smoothing out some rough patches.”

As he hammers out an agenda for the future, Benderson said he is working to modify some of the language being used to describe the North Port St. Joe CDC’s outreach, and to sharpen the explicit goals of its programs to advance community growth and resilience. 

“I want the proof in the pudding, not just checking the box,” he said, noting that with brownfield workforce training and GIS mapping, “words matter. We’re changing up the language so people have a better sense of what they can get from that class.”

The non-profit has also launched a new website, www.northportstjoecdc.org, to serve as a hub for reporting on progress and to act as a hub for community communication.

“I’m honored to join the North Port St. Joe Community Development Corporation at this pivotal time of growth for the organization,” said Benderson. “This transformative time is not just about a new name or new CEO; it’s about amplifying the mission of the CDC to create lasting, positive change in the heart of the North Port St. Joe community.”

To learn more about the work of the North Port St. Joe Community Development Corporation, follow the organization on Facebook or LinkedIn, and stay up to date by signing up for the newsletter at northportstjoecdc.org.