Sondra Fetner is Director of Place-Based Initiatives and Policy for the Jessie Ball duPont Fund and Managing Director of Vibrant Places, Inc., a 501(c)(3) dedicated to activating public spaces.

In this dual role, Sondra focuses on building and enabling new public-private partnership models that align incentives and resources for the benefit of communities. She also manages the process for activating public spaces that center community perspective, including navigating and reducing barriers to activation, and identifying and implementing redevelopment activities. She analyzes legal, land use and zoning codes and public policies to recommend how public spaces and real estate opportunities might be made more equitable and accessible. Sondra is also a senior program officer with responsibility for grantmaking in Jacksonville, Florida.

Sondra, a respected land use lawyer and urbanist, joins the duPont Fund after running an urban development consulting firm for the past three years. Sondra primarily worked with the Downtown Investment Authority on numerous Downtown redevelopment projects and initiatives including redeveloping the Jacksonville Shipyards, activating the Downtown Riverfront, and updating the DIA’s Community Redevelopment and Business Investment & Development Plans in 2022. Sondra also serves on the Taskforce for the Activating Jacksonville’s Riverfront initiative.

Prior to founding her consulting business, Sondra served as an Assistant General Counsel for the City of Jacksonville with a focus on land use, real estate development and legislative affairs. She served as the staff attorney for numerous City boards and commissions including the Historic Preservation Commission, Tree Commission, Comprehensive Plan Major Issues Committee, Environmental Protection Board, and the Joint Planning Committee. She began her legal career at Folds & Walker, a private firm in Gainesville, Florida, where she represented several municipalities as an assistant city attorney and discovered her passion for local government affairs, land use law, and urban planning. 

Sondra earned her bachelor of science in business administration and marketing cum laude from the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business Administration, her Juris Doctor from the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law, and her Master of Urban Planning from the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy. She serves on the Board of Directors of Riverside Avondale Preservation, is a member of the Urban Land Institute of North Florida and is licensed to practice law in the state of Florida. In 2023, Sondra was named to the Jacksonville Business Journal's 40 Under 40 list in recognition of her work to make Jacksonville a more inclusive and vibrant city for all. Sondra and her husband, Michael, live in Avondale with their three young children.