A.G. Gancarski
ICARE, the Interfaith Coalition for Action, Reconciliation and Empowerment, describes itself as a “diverse, multi-issue, organization of 40 member congregations representing over 30,000 Duval County residents.” On Monday night, three thousand people from these congregations, and others throughout the community, are going to pack the Potter’s House Church on Jacksonville’s Westside to discuss issues on which the Faith Based Community has concerns. The hope is to forge “sustainable solutions” on issues related to social justice. Among those expected to be in attendance: Mayor Alvin Brown, the two Sheriff’s candidates in the runoff, along with Sheriff John Rutherford.
Among the issues being discussed are the following:
Civil Citations: Both Sheriff’s candidates, Mike Williams and Ken Jefferson, will be asked to state their stances on these issues. On the campaign trail, both men have advocated for an increased use of Civil Citations. The program will go beyond that, however. “We also understand that current civil citation legislation is flawed. The way it is currently written, youth in Miami can get a civil citation for the same crime as a youth in Jacksonville would be arrested for. At the Assembly we will educate the community on SB 378 and announce our next steps to improve the civil citation program state wide,” claims the press release from ICARE.
Restorative Justice: This plank of the program deals with restorative justice in middle and high schools, as a way of moving beyond the “zero tolerance” model of the late 20th century. Duval County School Superintendent Nikolai Vitti will be on hand to discuss the program’s implementation in 87 schools in the District.
Employee Owned Businesses in NW Jax: Last year, Mayor Brown pledged to “to put a Taskforce together and to contract a study that will uncover what employee owned businesses would be viable in Northwest Jacksonville,” according to the ICARE release. He will discuss the progress on this issues.
In addition to these issues, the City Council’s lack of commitment to resources for the Jacksonville Day Resource Center for the homeless will be discussed, along with the Open Access program to improve community access to mental health services.
The program runs from 7-9 p.m. and Florida Politics will provide the most comprehensive coverage to be found anywhere of what is said and crowd reaction.
