Bending Toward Justice

BBUUC ICARE Team

at Violence Intervention Press Conference

Fifty-one ICARE network members—including six from BBUUC—made the case to news outlets that JSO’s Group Violence Intervention Program needs to be reassessed. This, after Sheriff T.K. Waters failed to return phone calls or attend ICARE’s Community Problems Assembly last month to discuss the issue. 

GVI brings together law enforcement, social services and community groups to offer services to people who have fallen into a life of crime. Since the program’s inception in 2016, Jacksonville’s annul murder rate has stubbornly remained above 100. Other cities with GVI have seen violent crime drop from 30% and 60%.

“We understand the sheriff’s office has a GVI program,” Rev. Adam Gray of Riverside Church at Park & King said. “But there is only one statistic we care about—the shootings must stop.”

News 4 Jax, First Coast News, and WJCT’s Jacksonville Today covered the event. We celebrate BBUUC’s Ted Clisby, John Wrightington, Wanda Frazee, Toni Piccolotti, Carole Hawkins and Molly Brady who attended. Working together to make great things happen!

ICARE Win: Protecting Jacksonville from Flooding

Jacksonville’s Flood Vulnerability Assessment is finished! 

At ICARE’s Community Problems Assembly, Tracye Polson from the mayor’s office announced the study, which predicts how sea-level rise will impact infrastructure, now appears on the city’s website as part of Resilient Jacksonville, the City’s 50-year resilience strategy. 

Speaking at the assembly, BBUUC’s Carole Hawkins welcomed the news. “As people of faith, we understand we are tied to, and are a part of, an interconnected web of existence, which we must care for in order to thrive. A flood vulnerability assessment will help us prepare for the future. This gives us hope.”