JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville’s new approach to fighting crime draws on a strategy from the past.
Mayor Donna Deegan has said she wants to revitalize the Jacksonville Journey, and she asked her Public Safety Transition Committee to take up the challenge.
Mayor John Peyton established the Journey about 15 years ago, and as a result, the city’s violent crime rate dropped by over 30 percent.
This committee plans to implement many of those old practices, but this time around, it will be called the Jacksonville Journey Forward.
It will have three subcommittees: Jacksonville Journey Review, Literacy Initiatives, and Community Engagement and Crime Prevention.
Goals include creating new reading programs, expanding summer camps and after-school opportunities, and creating community hope and literacy centers in three neighborhoods.
Director of Community Initiatives Lakesha Burton said this is something for Jacksonville citizens to be excited about.
“The research says that if kids are not reading proficiently by grade three, their chances of entering the criminal justice system or even being on welfare increase,” Burton said.
Other recommendations expanding re-entry programs for ex-offenders and having the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office staff mental health clinicians around the clock, including evenings and weekends.
Attorney and former school board member W.C. Gentry, who was part of the original Journey board, is expected to serve as the program’s chair.
“People saw results and then it went away,” Gentry said, “and so I think there’s a lot of goodwill around it, and if we can re-create that community-wide energy and support and if we can deliver on the promises being made, then I think people will get excited again.”
Rachael Fortune is on the Literacy Initiatives Subcommittee. She said new programs need to be established and existing ones expanded.
“Literacy is the foundation of our community,” Fortune said. “It’s the foundation of every young person’s ability to be successful, and when we think about things like public safety, the first thing we have to do is make sure we’re preparing our citizens for their futures.”
Committee members say collaboration between state and government agencies like JSO, the city, Duval County Schools and the State Attorney’s Office will be key to a successful Jacksonville Journey Forward.
“When you’re bringing all the elements together to look at the best programs, and then have the right metrics in place to make sure that we’re effective and have oversight to make sure that it is producing what we want it to produce and that is a safer community,” Burton said.
The committee is still working on the draft recommendations and is expected to meet again before the end of the month to take a look at the final copy.
It’s due on the mayor’s desk by September.