November 22, 2002 Alvin Jackson: Keeping our water safe

November 22, 2002

Alvin Jackson: Keeping our water safe

Alvin Jackson's unique role in helping to manage one of Florida's lifelines: Offering job opportunities while protecting Florida's water supply

From Central to South Florida, Alvin Jackson has left a trail of accomplishments that have impacted the lives of millions of people inside and beyond the Sunshine State. As Deputy Executive Director for Corporate Resources for the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) , he ensures that business opportunities are made available for qualifying entities throughout Florida. Presently, the restoration of the Everglades is the District's largest project. Headquartered in West Palm Beach, the South Florida Water Management District has an $800 million budget and employs a staff of 1,771. Jackson is responsible for overseeing the budget, finance and accounting, procurement, public information, strategic planning and= information technology. He also manages all eight of the District's regional service centers throughout the District's 16-county area.

Service Centers are located in Orlando, Stuart, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Islamorda, Ft. Myers, Okeechobee and Naples. "We need to be as accessible as possible for the over six million population we have in South Florida ," he stated. The SFWMD was created by the state legislature in 1949. After years of severe hurricanes and droughts, Florida asked the federal government for a master plan to tame nature's excesses. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a massive public works system consisting of canals, levees, pumping stations and water control structures to help manage water flow. The District's initial role was to operate and maintain the water management project. While the system made growth and develop possible, it also had some unintended consequences on Florida's natural resources.

The once pristine wilderness called the Everglades could be described as a sheet of slowly moving water (one to two feet in depth) that once covered the lower portion of the state. It recharged the underground water table and provided natural flow to streams and rivers. As a result of building the man-made water management project, the canal system now serves as conduits for residential and agricultural runoff - directing excess water to storage areas, lakes, rivers and estuaries. When there is too much water, the canals are used to move it to storage areas or out to tide. Some of the water naturally seeps into the ground and is stored in underground vast porous limestone aquifers. When there is not enough water, available water is moved to where ever it is most needed.

Today, the Everglades is less than half its original size and some of its ecological values have been lost due to the changes in water flow designed to benefit human needs. The District and the Corps of Engineers are undertaking an unprecedented effort to restore the health of the Everglades and to provide for the long-term water supply need of both the environment and people. The responsibility of the SFWMD is far reaching in its impact on economic development. The District is very serious about its diversity program. While the agency is working hard to correct some recognized deficits, Jackson said that they are committed to doing business with those who reflect the composition of the population. "We have really opened up the process from the standpoint of being very inclusive," Jackson said.

"We want the word to get out to the community that we have work to do - engineering, architectural, construction, landscaping, exterminating painting, carpentry, maintenance and land management. We also purchase auto parts, lab equipment, fencing, mowers, computer software, paper supplies and janitorial services." According to Jackson, the business opportunity list goes on and on. Alvin Jackson is passionate about his commitment to the state and to the people of the state. Having been raised in a home where parents were administrators in the church, Jackson got a feel of what it was like to be a leader. Working to advance the mission of the SFWMD comes natural to him. He was greatly influenced by his father who was Bishop of his religious organization. He learned that the bottom line of good leadership was to touch the lives of people in a positive manner.

"Hopefully, when you come in contact with me on either a professional or personal basis, we will both benefit from the encounter and find it to be a sincere and uplifting experience," he said. Jackson was the only child in his parents' household. He credits them for teaching him excellent work ethics. "I had three jobs in college; I was taking 18-21 credit hours and had my own apartment," he said. "Growing up" Jackson continued, "it was more important to my parents that I had a bookshelf than to have a TV. It was not until college that I went and picked up a television for myself," he chuckled. "I was always focused," said Jackson. Actually, I think the light came on for me when I was in 7th or 8th grade at Eustis Middle School. There was this retired librarian who shared with me a book called The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale.

This book, along with my parents, had such an impact on my life; it was never a question of whether I was going to college, it was which college was I going to attend." Having become interested in state and local government in the 1970s, Jackson volunteered as a legislative page and went to Boy's State. This is when he decided to pursue public administration. According to Jackson's research, in the '70s, there were only two universities that had a practical approach to public management. That was the University of Southern California and the University of Maryland. When he graduated from high school in 1979, he enrolled at the University of Maryland, in College Park. Jackson majored in public administration and was hired into a governmental consulting firm three months before graduating.

"I go hired in April but wasn't due to start until August, Having finished college in three years, it was relaxing just to know that, come August, I had a job. I kept reading my award letter everyday saying to myself, 'is this real?'" But it was true. Proof of Jackson's competency as an administrator has been reflected in his professional advances and awards. (He was named "Who's Who Among Black Administrators for two consecutive years 1989-1991.) Before joining the SFWMD, Alvin Jackson served as the deputy county manager for Lake County from 1996 to 2001. Prior to his tenure with Lake County, he served as city administrator of Eatonville and human services director for the City of Eustis. In these various city and county positions, he identified and successfully brought in millions of dollars in grant funding. However, these represent merely a fraction of his involvement in public service.

Over the years he established a good working relationship with Henry Dean, then Executive Director of the St. Johns River Water Management District. "We had worked on several projects through the years," he recounted. "The South Florida Water Management District Governing Board appointed Dean to the West Palm Beach post. He asked me to come and be a part of his team. I was extremely humbled and honored t have been asked. He is a great leader with lots of enthusiasm. He is innovative and likes to run fast, and that's just what I like to do." Henry Dean has put together a team of three other deputy directors making it a diversification of leadership, styles race and gender. Says Jackson, "We are working like a team. We're having fun and creating a positive culture where individuals are risk-takers.

We have values that we live by, we exercise teamwork, we exhibit a positive attitude, loyalty, communication, we work cross functionally and we're not afraid to think outside of the box." Jackson , who is also an ordained minister, said, "It is extremely grounding to really go and share myself with people spiritually. Without having that spiritual base, I could not be successful." Jackson pastors The Church of Kingdom of God in Frostproof, Florida. Jackson is married and is the father of seven girls and a five year old boy.