Jacksonville wants to build its health care and medical sector, just as Buffalo has done on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

And like Buffalo, Jacksonville is trying to make changes to its school system.

“Item after item sounded like things we’ve dealt with in Buffalo over the last 20 years,” said Brian Wolfburg, a Buffalo native who coordinated the trip to Buffalo. “It’s a very similar city, with a similar feel and a ton of potential.”

But not everything. Jacksonville’s economy is much stronger than Buffalo’s, growing almost four times faster from 2014 to 2017.

These trips are nothing new for the Jacksonville group. The Jacksonville chamber has organized trips for the last six years to allow the city’s business and civic leaders to take a look at what’s happening in other cities that are grappling with the same type of issues.

Wolfburg, who now runs a $9 billion asset credit union in Jacksonville after working for HSBC Bank USA and then KeyBank here, is the linchpin that brought the trip together.

“Brian has watched the revitalization happen, and was able to push Buffalo, because he believes in the mission, and has respect for the city that made him what he is,” Hurlbert said.