Thursday, 09 September 2010 14:27 | Written by Wayne Rawlins | 
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Kevin T. Gay
Kevin T. Gay is a native of Jacksonville, Fl and a graduate of the University of Florida. He brings to his role as President/Founder of Operation New Hope, many years of entrepreneurial experience and a deep commitment to revitalizing urban neighborhoods. He combines this with his strong faith and a special interest in helping the under served in communities who seek a way out of the cycle of addiction, poverty and incarceration.
Kevin left the for-profit world and founded Operation New Hope in 1999 in order to create a new model for community development. He felt that while there were many houses in many urban communities in need of major restoration there were also many people broken and in need of Hope once again. Thus Operation New Hope was born in order to bring Hope back to the Hopeless. Hope in the form of new housing, new skills leading to new jobs and a revitalized community. ONH was selected by the White House in 2003 to develop the first national model for Prisoner Re-entry called Ready4Work. This employment based re-entry model is now being used in 16 other cities around the country. Ready4Work Jacksonville has gained national attention because of its impact in reducing recidivism. Kevin has been invited to the White House on three occasions over the past 4 years for his work in prisoner re-entry.
He is a founding member of Reconcile Jacksonville, which has been responsible for partnering over forty black and white churches over the past sixteen years. In 2003 the City of Jacksonville nominated Kevin for a national award through Neighborhoods USA (NUSA) and on May 22, 2003 he and nine others from around the country received the prestigious NUSA Notables Award. Previous winners are Willard Scott of the TODAY SHOW and distinguished television personality Ms. Oprah Winfrey.
Kevin has served on numerous community boards including HabiJax, the largest Habitat for Humanity affiliate, and is currently Vice Chairman of the board of Gateway Community Services, Jacksonville’s largest alcohol/drug treatment operation. He also served on the management committee of a recent JCCI study called “Neighborhoods on the Tipping Point”. Was asked by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s office to be on the management team of the recent study called “Reducing the Violence: A Community Response”.
In October of 2007 President Bill Clinton cited Kevin for his work in prisoner re-entry in his new book called “Giving- How Each Of Us Can Change the World”. Kevin was most invited by President Bush in 2008 to join him at the White House in the signing of the new “Second Chance Act”. During the Presidential Campaign in July of 2008 President Barack Obama mentioned the Ready4Work re-entry program in a national speech on religion. Kevin currently serves on the Florida Department of Corrections Prisoner Re-entry Advisory Board for the state of Florida. Kevin is a contributor on several publications on re-entry including; Governor Bush’s Ex-offender Task Force Report in 2006 and most recently on several publications through the Council of State Governments- Justice Council on re-entry.
Kevin also recently served on President Elect Barack Obama’s Advisory Council for the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships during the transition as Americas 44th President.
Kevin T. Gay
President/Founder
Operation New Hope- Ready4Work Jacksonville
1830 N. Main St.
Jacksonville, Fl 32206
904-354-4673