MediaUpdate

​Alachua County Veteran Services, in partnership with the City of Gainesville, Vystar Credit Union, and Milam Funeral Home, invites the community to attend the annual Memorial Day ceremony on Monday, May 25, 2026, at the historic Evergreen Cemetery (401 SE 21st Ave., Gainesville).

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​Alachua County Growth Management Director Jeffrey Hays has confirmed that the site that was previously marketed as a site suitable for a high-megawatt data center is in the unincorporated county, not in the City of Alachua.

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​Alachua County and swaths of North Central Florida remain under extreme droughts as the St. Johns River Water Management District declared a Phase III Water Shortage and groundwater fell to the 10th percentile. 

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​Alachua County has temporarily closed the Leveda Brown Environmental Park and Transfer Station following an overnight fire at the Gainesville facility.

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​Alachua County officials announced the Leveda Brown Environmental Park and Transfer Station was closed due to a fire on Tuesday night.

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​In a recent email to Alachua County Commissioners, Public Works Director Ramon Gavarrete provided a response to numerous requests from residents to pave roads and fix potholes.

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​Early this morning, crews from Alachua County Fire Rescue and Gainesville Fire Rescue worked for several hours to fight a significant fire at the Leveda Brown Transfer Station.

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​The Suwannee River and St. Johns River water management districts have updated water shortage declarations for each of their portions of Alachua County and surrounding areas due to ongoing drought conditions and declining aquifer water levels.

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​The Alachua County Leveda Brown Environmental Park and Transfer Station (5115 NE 63rd Ave., Gainesville) is temporarily closed to the public following an overnight fire. The closure also affects the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Center.

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​Alachua County Public Works began construction in late February on the Northwest 122nd Street (Parker Road) extension, a $2.5 million project aimed at improving connectivity, safety and accessibility in western Alachua County.

The effort extends Northwest 122nd Street from Newberry Road (State Road 26) to Northwest 17th Avenue, adding a new two-lane, two-way roadway to support current traffic and future growth.​

​The project includes a 10-foot-wide multiuse path for pedestrians and cyclists, providing safer and more accessible travel options for residents. Crews are also implementing drainage improvements to strengthen long-term roadway performance and resilience.

​A key component of the extension is the creation of new connections to Northwest 13th Avenue and Northwest 17th Avenue. These links are expected to improve neighborhood circulation, enhance access to nearby communities such as South Pointe, and streamline daily commutes. Officials say the added routes will also improve emergency response by providing more direct access for first responders.

​Through collaboration between Alachua County’s Economic Development and Public Works departments and Santa Fe College, the project has evolved beyond a traditional infrastructure investment into a long-term workforce development strategy designed to create sustained economic mobility opportunities for local residents.

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​Over the past few months, concerns from residents surfaced before the City Commission, the Alachua Planning and Zoning Board and the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC). Community members referenced how the facility could negatively impact people and the environment with industrial consumption of power and water used to cool the centers. 

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​At a May 19 Special Budget Meeting, the Alachua County Commission heard budget requests from the County’s Judicial and Constitutional Offices.

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​Alachua County has been recognized by the Florida Economic Development Council (FEDC) with a statewide Innovative Partnership Award for its project $36 million catalyst: “Converting Federal Investment into High-Wage Workforce Opportunity in Alachua County,” highlighting one of the most significant and strategically coordinated economic development efforts in east Gainesville’s history.

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​Other than essential services, all Alachua County offices will be closed on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, 2026.

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​The Alachua County Development Review Committee will meet on Thursday, May 21, 2026, in the Jack Durrance Auditorium on the second floor of the Alachua County Administration Building (12 SE 1st St., Gainesville). This meeting begins at 1:30 p.m.

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​After nearly a month since the grand opening of two permanent supportive housing communities in southwest Gainesville, some of Alachua County’s most vulnerable residents have begun moving into the renovated county-owned sites.

County commissioners and staff cut the ribbon April 21 as they prepared to welcome future residents to the former Scottish and Budget inns.

Just south of Southwest 13th Street and Williston Road, the communities include 67 total units — 36 at East Tumblin Creek, formerly the Budget Inn, and 31 at Forest Edge, formerly the Scottish Inn.

As of May 13, Alachua County Community Support Services Director Claudia Tuck told The Sun by email that 11 residents were already on-site, with two more expected to move in by the end of the week, bringing the total to 13. She added that another 23 people are in the process of completing applications and preparing to move in.​

​Angela, a Forest Edge resident who did not provide her last name, said May 13 that she moved into the community the day before after applying through the GRACE outreach program. After learning she would receive her own apartment, Angela said her knees trembled and she started “balling tears,” thanking God.

"I'm not scared, I'm not worried, I'm not frightened like I was at GRACE," Angela said, referring to the homeless shelter just off Northeast 39th Avenue. "Even though it is my second day at Forest, I feel like at home. I would not have gotten it on my own. God helped me, my faith helped me."

​Applying through the same program, another resident, who did not provide their name, said he had been there for a week and appreciates having his own “pad” to cook his own meals, use his own restroom and wash his clothes for free in the complex’s laundry room without worrying someone will steal his clothes.

​“Everything they gave you is brand new, like the bed. It’s awesome,” the resident said. “I was flabbergasted — this is beautiful. This isn’t GRACE Marketplace.”

Echoing Angela’s faith, the resident said God blessed him with a second chance and the peace he deserves.

​Utilities and Wi-Fi are included, and residents with income will pay 30% of their earnings toward rent. Those seeking employment will not pay rent until hired.

In November 2020, the Alachua County Commission approved the purchase of the Budget Inn for $2.2 million. In 2023, the abutting former Scottish Inn was purchased for about $1.8 million, with funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.

​Renovations to the properties began in May 2025.

​Gray Construction Services completed a $4.6 million renovation of the 36 units at East Tumblin Creek, each designed as a studio-style apartment with space for a bed, kitchenette, bathroom and small living area. At Forest Edge, Ulloa Management Group oversaw a $4.1 million renovation of 31 units.

​Families being matched with new graduates of the Flourish Alachua Doula training initiative, which trains birth and postpartum doulas to support new mothers through birth and the physical and emotional challenges of life after childbirth, span a wide range of circumstances.

Gainesville’s transient population of students and young couples without nearby family often turns to doulas to fill a gap once filled by grandmothers, neighbors or close friends.

"There's a lack of community," said Brittany Fadiora, director and co-founder of Doulio, a Texas-based company that founded Alachua's program and builds doula workforce infrastructure across the country. "And that really shows up when someone's pregnant." The program is funded by the Alachua County Children's Trust.​

​Fadiora, who attended midwifery school in Gainesville, has trained more than 1,000 doulas nationwide and supported more than 500 births. She said doula support is linked to better outcomes for mothers and babies, including lower C-section rates, stronger bonding, higher breastfeeding rates and, in some cases, the prevention of maternal death.

“Doula support is an easy entry to be able to make a difference in such a complex medical system,” she said. “Eighty percent of maternal deaths are preventable, and doulas really focus on those things that are preventable — education, access, awareness. They are someone that's trusted that clients can talk to. Asking, 'Do you feel seen? Do you feel heard?' providing those comfort measures and being a coordinator and an advocate for that client.”

​It can be challenging to make sure doulas reflect the communities they serve, Fadiora continued. The Alachua doula training cohorts have included Spanish and Haitian Creole speakers, and the program actively recruits doulas from diverse backgrounds.

Since launching, the program has trained close to 30 doulas in Alachua County.

​The training includes an intensive weekend of coursework covering postpartum physical recovery, newborn care, infant feeding and emotional support, followed by four months of mentorship and hands-on client work. Trainees finish with at least one client and a mentor available for ongoing support.

Katie Heard, a NICU nurse and lactation consultant, completed the first cohort in 2024 and returned as a co-trainer for the program’s third cohort. She saw becoming a doula as a way to support women outside the hospital setting and to deepen her understanding of the birthing process. After a positive experience as a trainee, she wanted to remain involved as the program grew.

​"Being a good trainer is not just sitting there reading slides all day," she said. "It's incorporating life experiences, it's creating activities that are meaningful.”

As a mother of two young children, postpartum doula work fits her schedule. She now mentors three doulas from the most recent cohort and runs her own postpartum doula practice on the side. Some months she sees eight or nine clients; others, just two or three. Each family’s needs are different.

A trainer demonstrates proper breastfeeding positions using a baby doll during the Children’s Trust of Alachua County’s Flourish program.

"I think what I like the most about doula work is just the simple human connection of it," Heard said, "being able to support a woman as she enters that role of a mother, whether it's her first child or her third."

Stephanie Norman, a pre-K teacher and academic advisor, also completed the Flourish program in 2024 shortly after the birth of her second child. When she learned that Fadiora was recruiting trainers for the next cohort, she applied.

​“I think in nature, I'm a teacher, and I'm drawn to people so specifically. You know, the birth culture is really where my jam has been at lately,” she said.

Norman said the impact on her community has been the most rewarding part of the work. She considers advocacy for families, for the profession and for doulas themselves the core lesson of the training.

Medicaid covers the cost of doula services in some states. In Florida, coverage falls under the optional benefits that Medicaid managed care plans may choose to offer and it isn't guaranteed statewide. Whether a beneficiary has access depends on their specific plan, which also sets its own reimbursement rates.

The Flourish Alachua Doula training initiative partners with local health organizations Healthy Families and Healthy Start to administer the program.

​The next postpartum doula training is expected to start in the fall.