North Florida families are working hard — and too many of them are watching economic development happen around them, not for them. While millions in public incentives go out the door every year, neighborhoods like Frenchtown, Southside, and Greater Bond continue to face higher poverty rates, vacant storefronts, and limited opportunities for small businesses to grow. Tallahassee has a poverty rate above 23% — one of the highest in Florida. That is not a statistic. That is a neighbor. That is a family. And it is a policy failure we can fix.

Community Benefit Requirements

If taxpayers subsidize a project, taxpayers deserve measurable community benefits — not just promises. As Mayor, Daryl will propose that all major economic incentive packages, public land deals, and CRA-funded redevelopment agreements include enforceable community benefit terms as a condition of approval. That means local hiring targets, small-business contracting requirements, and annual public reporting on whether projects deliver what they promised. No more blank checks.

CRA Accountability & Neighborhood Outcomes

The Community Redevelopment Agency has significant resources to invest in Tallahassee’s neighborhoods — but those investments have produced uneven results. Daryl will propose a Neighborhood Outcomes Standards framework: annual public reports on commercial occupancy, housing rehab, small-business growth, and infrastructure improvements in priority neighborhoods. CRA dollars will follow neighborhood need — tracked publicly, reported quarterly, and redirected when outcomes fall short.

Neighborhood Development Tables

Too many Tallahassee residents have found out about major development decisions after they were already made. Daryl will require Neighborhood Development Tables for all major redevelopment corridors — bringing residents, small business owners, and community leaders into the room before final designs and budgets are set. This is not a formality. It is a structural commitment to the people who live and work in the neighborhoods that change is happening in.

Small Business Support & Local Entrepreneurship

Small businesses are the backbone of Tallahassee. The barber shops and beauty supply stores. The restaurants and contractors. The family-owned shops that have been on the same corner for twenty years. Daryl’s plan expands technical assistance programs, streamlines permitting for small operators, and requires that city economic incentive packages produce real local business outcomes. Frenchtown. Southside. Greater Bond. These corridors deserve dedicated resources — and they will get them.

Public Investment Dashboard

Residents deserve to know where their money goes — before decisions are final, and after. Daryl will propose a public investment dashboard: an online, quarterly-updated tracker of all CRA spending, incentive packages, and neighborhood outcomes. Every dollar. Every project. Every result. Accessible to anyone, anywhere, in plain language. Because transparency is not a courtesy — it is a responsibility.

The Jobs-First Agenda is not a promise. It is a plan — built on accountability, grounded in neighborhood need, and designed to deliver results that families in every corner of this city can see and feel. As Mayor, Daryl Parks will be one vote on the City Commission. But he will use every tool that office provides to make sure Tallahassee’s economic growth works for everyone. Not just the well-connected. For everyone.