New Models for Civic Engagement: Ben Warner at TEDxJacksonville

We live in communities, we live in a time of technological advancement, and yet we live at a time where we are increasingly disconnected from one another. We seldom know the name of our next-door neighbor or even the city council person who might be making decisions about our future. Explore with Ben Warner a new model for civic engagement.

Ben Warner is the President & CEO of Jacksonville Community Council Inc. (JCCI). He has been at JCCI since 1998, serving most recently as the organization's Vice President before becoming the organization's fourth executive leader since 1975.

Ben is a past president of the National Association of Planning Councils (NAPC) and was inaugural president of the international Community Indicators Consortium, a network of institutions which seeks to advance the art and science of community indicators across the globe.

Before joining JCCI in 1998, Ben worked in the mental health field, where he directed day treatment programs for dually-diagnosed (mental illness/developmentally disabled) individuals in Northeast and Central Florida. He also worked with homelessness issues, developing a highly successful pilot transitional housing program.

At JCCI, Ben has staffed community-based public policy studies and implementation efforts on topics such as arts and culture, growth management, regional cooperation, and city finance. He also serves as a consultant with Community Works, assisting multiple communities around the world in the creation of community-based public policy organizations and the development of community indicators.

Ben completed his undergraduate studies in Sociology at Brigham Young University. He received his Masters in Social Work from Florida State University.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)