Jacksonville is gearing up for its third annual Unidos Jax Dinner, a City Hall-backed celebration of the region's Hispanic community set for Thursday, Sept. 17, at the Downtown Main Library. Mayor Donna Deegan and Rahman Johnson are both scheduled to attend as special guests, and organizers have built the evening around dinner, an awards ceremony, live performances, and dancing.
The event runs from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the library, located at 303 N. Laura St. in downtown Jacksonville, with dinner and the main program beginning at 6 p.m., according to Action News Jax. Tickets are priced at $100 including mandatory fees and are sold only online through the city's special events site, with no sales available at the door, per Eventbrite listings for the event. The dinner is organized by the City of Jacksonville Sports & Entertainment division and is designed to honor the contributions of the city's Hispanic residents.
A Tradition Still Taking Shape
This marks the third time the city has staged the dinner since its founding under Mayor Deegan's administration. Last year's second annual gathering, held in September 2025 at the same library, featured live music from Caribe Groove and Mauren Delgado along with dishes from local Hispanic restaurants including El Pegao and Candelas House Grill, according to the City of Jacksonville. Hoodline previously reported on that library dinner and mayoral visit during last year's Hispanic Heritage Month.
The dinner's growth tracks a broader demographic shift across Northeast Florida. Duval County's Hispanic population grew by 25.9% between July 2020 and July 2024, reaching 142,951 residents, or 13.5% of the county's total population, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates cited by News4JAX. Within Jacksonville's city limits, roughly 12.6% of residents identify as Hispanic or Latino, representing more than 110,000 people, per U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts.
A Wider Network of Support
The dinner sits alongside a growing set of city and community programs aimed at Jacksonville's Hispanic residents. The Mayor's Hispanic American Advisory Board, founded in 1998 under former Mayor John Delaney and co-founder Tomas A. Jimenez Sr., continues to advise city leadership on Hispanic community issues, as detailed by the Jacksonville Daily Record. Separately, the Jacksonville Small and Emerging Business Program began hosting free monthly Spanish-language business forums at the Downtown Main Library in August 2024 to help Hispanic entrepreneurs navigate municipal contracting.
Nonprofit and philanthropic organizations have added to that momentum. Economic development group Prospera reported assisting more than 300 local small businesses between 2022 and 2024 through its Jacksonville initiative, funded in part by grants from JPMorganChase and Citi Foundation, according to a PR Newswire release. The First Coast Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, awarded more than $23,500 in scholarships this spring through its Achieving the Dream program, pushing its three-decade educational giving above $500,000.
Beyond City Hall's formal galas, Jacksonville's Hispanic community also gathers each fall at Viva La Fiesta, a free public festival that marked its seventh year in September 2025 at the Phoenix Arts & Innovation District. That event featured six hours of live salsa, bachata, artisan vendors, and Latin American cuisine, offering a grassroots complement to the more formal library dinner, per coverage cited from the event's video recap.
Where the Dinner Is Held
The Downtown Main Library itself carries civic history tied to the city's growth. The five-story, 300,000-square-foot building opened in November 2005 following voter approval of the $95 million Better Jacksonville Plan, and it includes a 400-seat auditorium and exhibition spaces regularly used for major city gatherings, according to The Coastal. That civic backdrop has made it the natural home for the Unidos Jax Dinner in each of its three years.
