UNF Doctoral student champions innovation in Jacksonville’s local economy

Gregory Grant is driving transformative change in Jacksonville’s economic landscape.  

As the City of Jacksonville’s Small and Emerging Business (JSEB) administrator and a standout student in the University of North Florida’s Doctor of Education (EdD) program in Educational Leadership, Grant recently led the launch of the city’s first Entrepreneurship & Workforce Development Center, an initiative aimed at expanding economic opportunity and empowering small businesses citywide. 

A longtime entrepreneurship educator with a global mission to advance entrepreneurial literacy, Grant chose to pursue his EdD at UNF because of the program’s alignment with his vision to embed entrepreneurship education across school systems, public institutions and international platforms. 

“UNF’s emphasis on educational leadership and practice-based research made it the right fit for someone like me,” said Grant. “The program has equipped me with the research skills, strategic insight and leadership tools essential for driving initiatives like the Entrepreneurship & Workforce Development Center.” 

Grant brings decades of experience as both a practitioner and educator of entrepreneurship. His journey led him to recognize the urgent need to affect systems-level change, particularly through civic institutions. His role with the JSEB Program became a vehicle for this mission, allowing him to design policies that stabilize, sustain and scale small businesses.  

“I wanted to architect a government program that empowers entrepreneurs through education, access to capital, contracts and community infrastructure,” Grant said. 

The first of four planned locations, the Brentwood Center officially opened on May 7 with strong support from Mayor Donna Deegan and members of the Jacksonville City Council. The center offers free services, including business development workshops, job placement assistance, financial literacy education and guidance on earning industry certifications.   

“It’s not just a building,” Grant explained. “It’s a collaborative space where local organizations, educators and entrepreneurs come together to create an ecosystem of opportunity.” 

Three additional centers are scheduled to open in the Main Library Downtown, the Phoenix Arts District and the Cecil Commerce Center, further extending the initiative’s reach and impact.  

Grant credits his experience at UNF as transformative. One course on politics in education particularly reshaped his understanding of how policy can serve as both a barrier and a breakthrough. That insight inspired his dissertation on Career and Technical Entrepreneurship Education (CTEE), a new framework that reimagines how high schools can prepare students with entrepreneurial mindsets and real-world skills they need not just for business, but for life. 

The CTEE framework directly influenced the design of the Entrepreneurship & Workforce Development Centers, which now serve as operational models for civic innovation. 

Grant’s leadership is already gaining statewide recognition. Under his direction, the City of Jacksonville’s JSEB Certification Program recently received the Economic Advancement Award from the Florida League of Cities, an honor recognizing programs that deliver tangible, lasting impacts on local economies. In the past two years, the program has hosted more than 50 outreach events across all 19 Jacksonville City Council districts and helped JSEB-certified businesses secure over $106 million in city contracts. 

At the core of this success is a five-pillar frame Grant developed as a scalable model for economic development that can be replicated across Florida and beyond. The pillars focus on legislation, education, community, capital and contracts. 

In addition to his civic role, Grant is a professional scholar of entrepreneurship philosophy, policy and science. He contributes thought leadership to national organizations such as the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship and the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.