Ernest Coney Jr. serves as the Chief Executive Officer of CDC of Tampa. He brings over 20 years of executive management-level experience in providing health, social and economic programs to benefit low to moderate income persons and the elderly. With an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and a master’s degree from the University of South Florida, he developed strong business acumen in the areas of management, finance, and performance improvement.
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Prior to CDC, Mr. Coney held positions such as Sr. Actuarial Analyst, Director of Operations, and Finance Administrator for several national healthcare companies.
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In 2006, Mr. Coney became the Chief Operations Officer for the CDC of Tampa; expanding the legacy of the Nehemiah Project – Community Building “Brick by Brick and Block by Block”. This is accomplished by creating jobs, providing job training, building community pride, promoting entrepreneurship, providing financial literacy, developing youth leadership, revitalizing commercial areas, and building affordable housing. The non-profit corporation has also enhanced its reach, by helping over 1,000 individuals systematically break the cycle of poverty on an annual basis.
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Within the first few years of his tenure as CEO, Mr. Coney leveraged over $50 million dollars in joint venture projects, to include real estate and program service projects. Most notably was the development of Fort King Colony, a 120-unit affordable apartment complex and Haley Park, an 80-unit senior housing complex. He has also helped to create two prominent county-wide, cross sector collaborations – Economic Prosperity Center and Safe & Sound Hillsborough, as well as, designed a national award-winning City-Wide Façade Program. Most recently he has secured an investment of $22 million dollars in partnership with 5/3rd Bank to focus on community and economic development in East Tampa.
Under his leadership CDC created Tampa Vocational Institute (TVI), to address the disproportionate rates of unemployment and underemployment in urban neighborhoods. TVI has increased CDC’s ability to address the growing “skills gap” and corporate training needs for local area businesses and individuals.
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Over its 31 years, CDC of Tampa has generated more than $485.25 million in economic impact to the Tampa Bay Region, providing comprehensive community development strategies that connect workforce development, housing and real estate with education, community safety and resident leadership to drive economic prosperity.