Re-opening several community centers and extending hours. More summer job opportunities. A youth sports initiative.
Those were among the crime prevention and intervention strategies Mayor Alvin Brown announced this morning at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast.
The strategies announced Friday rely on working with faith leaders, nonprofits, businesses, parks, law enforcement and others to deter youth crime. Total cost will be about $525,000, $340,000 of which would come from the city.
The enhancements will fall under the Renew Jax initiative launched in November that aims to improve neighborhoods and increase economic development opportunities. Support for that comes from nonprofits such as LISC Jacksonville, which has committed $20 million that is being leveraged for state and federal funds.
Some of the initiatives, along with costs and how they’re being covered, include:
• Re-opening five community centers for after-school programming. They are Blue Cypress, Joe James, Lew Brantley, Lewis-Cobb and Westside community centers. Brown also is working to extend hours at Johnnie Walker Community Center. This will cost the city about $160,000, through a Parks, Recreation and Community Development budget reallocation.
• Expanding Rec ‘N Roll JAX to 18 parks this summer. It offers adult-supervised activities. The program was started last year for up to 10 weeks in high-crime areas with the backing of private support. City cost is about $50,000, through a parks budget reallocation.
• A youth-sports initiative that will focus on personal accountability by working with youth sports organizations.
• More teen job opportunities through working the JAX Chamber, including a job fair held by the Young Leaders Advisory Council.
• Adding a Neighborhood Accountability Board to the Arlington area. There are boards in the Ribault, Westside and Mayport areas. The boards hold juveniles accountable for misdemeanor offenses as an alternative to being arrested and having a criminal record. Creating the board will cost $65,000, funded through an internal transfer to Court Administration.
• Establish an Evening Reporting Center for juvenile offenders, an alternative to detention by having supervision and offering services. It’s being developed with the Department of Juvenile Justice, the State Attorney’s Office and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. Total cost will be $250,000, about $65,000 of which already is in the Jacksonville Journey budget. The rest will come from state, federal and private partners.
• Working more with faith-based leaders to expand mentoring and creating “pastoral interrupters” on call to respond to crime scenes, hospitals and victims’ homes.
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