St. Johns County launches InvestSJC. com site, small-business push

St. Johns County is rolling out a package of business-development initiatives this year designed to help the county compete for investment and give small-business owners and entrepreneurs more tools to launch and scale companies in one of Florida's fastest-growing markets.

The county Economic Development Department launched InvestSJC. com, a new website aimed at business leaders and investors, and will host a free Small Business Resource Event on September 23 from 10 a. m. to noon at The Waterworks, 184 San Marco Avenue in St. Augustine. The event will bring together dozens of local, regional, and state organizations that help businesses start, grow, and access capital. The county also debuted the inaugural St. Johns County Young Professionals Program this year to connect and retain emerging local talent.

What's happening

Monica Dominguez, senior project manager for the county's Economic Development Department, outlined the initiatives during the September 8, 2026, broadcast of The SJC Report, the county's monthly radio show on WFOY 102. 1 FM.

The new InvestSJC. com site is described as a modern, business-focused digital platform designed to attract investment, support local companies, and showcase St. Johns County's position as one of Florida's fastest-growing economies. The site provides streamlined tools and insights for business leaders at every stage, according to the county announcement.

The September 23 small-business resource event is open to local small-business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. It will feature organizations that help businesses start, grow, and strengthen their operations. The free event runs for two hours at The Waterworks in downtown St. Augustine.

The county's new Young Professionals Program is designed to connect, develop, and retain the next generation of local talent. The program marks its inaugural cohort in 2026.

Other recent efforts include the county's appearance at the 2026 JAXUSA State of the Region event, highlighting continued growth, targeted industry recruitment, and infrastructure investment. In addition, the 2026 Healthcare Career Expo connected approximately 160 job seekers with 40 healthcare employers, strengthening the county's talent pipeline.

All the initiatives support the county's Strategic Plan priority of Economic Prosperity. The county partners with the St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce on many of its events and programs.

Why St. Johns County is focusing on business retention and recruitment

St. Johns County has been one of Florida's fastest-growing counties for years, consistently ranking near the top in percentage population growth statewide. That growth has been driven in large part by families drawn to top-rated schools, but it also creates opportunities—and pressures—for the local business climate.

Economic-development officials in fast-growing counties typically face a two-front challenge: attracting employers to match population growth, so residents don't have to commute long distances for work, and helping small businesses and startups survive the growing pains of a rapidly changing market. Infrastructure demands, labor availability, and access to commercial real estate all become more competitive as residential development accelerates.

A dedicated economic-development website like InvestSJC. com is a standard tool in the competition for corporate relocations and expansions. Companies evaluating potential sites often begin their search online, comparing available land, workforce data, tax structures, quality-of-life metrics, and incentive programs. A well-organized, data-rich site allows a county to make its pitch 24/7 and can move a community into—or out of—a company's initial consideration set.

For St. Johns County, which competes regionally with Duval, Clay, and Nassau counties as well as with growth markets across Florida and the Southeast, presenting a professional digital front door signals that the county is open for business at scale, not just managing residential growth. The site is likely to include data on available commercial and industrial parcels, workforce statistics, permitting timelines, and contact information for site selectors and developers.

What the small-business push means for local entrepreneurs

The September 23 resource fair addresses a different but equally important audience: the solo entrepreneur, the family-owned retailer, the contractor or consultant trying to formalize a side hustle. Small businesses are the backbone of local economies, providing jobs, filling storefronts, and keeping spending local, but they also face high failure rates, especially in the critical first three years.

Many entrepreneurs struggle not because their idea is bad but because they don't know where to turn for help with business plans, financing, licensing, marketing, or accounting. Resource fairs like the one planned for The Waterworks lower the barrier by bringing many of those organizations into one room for two hours. Attendees can expect to meet representatives from the U. S. Small Business Administration, SCORE (a national network of volunteer business mentors), local banks and credit unions, the St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce, and state agencies that handle licensing and grants.

For aspiring business owners, events like this can clarify what it actually takes to open a business in Florida—what permits and registrations are required, how much capital is realistic, and where to find low-cost or free technical assistance. For existing small-business owners, the event offers a chance to learn about financing options, workforce-development programs, and government contracting opportunities they may not have known existed.

The location at The Waterworks in downtown St. Augustine is itself a signal. The historic San Marco Avenue corridor has seen a wave of small-business openings and renovations in recent years, and hosting the event in that setting reinforces the county's interest in supporting the kind of local, independent businesses that give neighborhoods character and keep dollars circulating in the community.

How the Young Professionals Program ties into workforce strategy

The new Young Professionals Program reflects a reality that many growing counties grapple with: it's one thing to attract people in their twenties and thirties, and another to keep them. Young professionals often move to a region for a first job or to follow family, but if they don't find career growth, networking opportunities, and a sense of community, they leave for cities with deeper professional ecosystems.

Programs like this one typically offer a mix of professional development (workshops on leadership, public speaking, project management), networking events, and civic engagement opportunities (tours of local government, volunteer projects, board training). The goal is to help emerging leaders build relationships across industries and sectors, raise their profile in the community, and see a future for themselves beyond their current job.

For employers, a Young Professionals Program can be a retention and recruitment tool. Companies that encourage employees to participate signal investment in career growth, and the program itself becomes a pipeline of talent familiar with the local business landscape. For the county, cultivating a cohort of young leaders builds a bench of future entrepreneurs, nonprofit board members, and civic volunteers.

The program's success will depend on how well it connects participants to real opportunities—internships, job openings, mentorship, and leadership roles—and whether it creates a durable network that participants stay engaged with over time. The inaugural cohort in 2026 will be the test case.

The role of industry-specific workforce pipelines

The 2026 Healthcare Career Expo, which connected approximately 160 job seekers with 40 healthcare employers, points to another thread in the county's economic-development strategy: building talent pipelines for high-demand sectors.

Healthcare is a major employer in Northeast Florida, and it's also a sector facing chronic workforce shortages, especially for nurses, medical technicians, home-health aides, and administrative staff. A career expo focused solely on healthcare allows employers to meet candidates who are already interested in the field and allows job seekers to compare opportunities, ask questions about training and certification requirements, and understand what different roles pay and require.

For St. Johns County, which is home to Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine and a growing number of medical offices and outpatient facilities tied to the county's aging and expanding population, maintaining a strong local healthcare workforce is both an economic and a quality-of-life imperative. If residents have to travel to Jacksonville or further for care because local providers can't staff their operations, that undermines one of the county's quality-of-life selling points.

Workforce development is increasingly a core economic-development function. Counties that can demonstrate a pipeline of trained, available workers in key industries have a competitive advantage when recruiting employers. The healthcare expo, the Young Professionals Program, and the small-business resources all feed into that broader effort to match people with opportunity and keep both businesses and workers in the county.

What happens next

The Small Business Resource Event will take place on September 23, 2026, from 10 a. m. to noon at The Waterworks, 184 San Marco Avenue, St. Augustine. The event is free and open to small-business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. No registration details were provided in the county announcement, but interested attendees can likely find more information through the county's Economic Development Department or the new InvestSJC. com website.

The Young Professionals Program is already underway with its inaugural cohort. Details on future application cycles and program structure were not included in the announcement, but interested young professionals can contact the Economic Development Department or check the county's website for updates.

The county's economic-development initiatives are guided by the St. Johns County Strategic Plan, which lists Economic Prosperity as a priority. Updates on programs, events, and new business announcements are available through the county's e-newsletters and the monthly SJC Report radio show, which airs the second Tuesday of each month at 8 a. m. on WFOY 102. 1 FM.

As St. Johns County continues to grow—adding thousands of residents each year along the SR 16, CR 210, and Nocatee corridors—its ability to cultivate a diverse, resilient local economy will shape whether that growth translates into opportunity or simply longer commutes and more pressure on infrastructure. Programs that help businesses start, scale, and hire locally are part of the county's effort to build an economy that keeps pace with its rooftops.