JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – New data released during a Jacksonville City Council meeting Monday shows that crime is being reduced in some of the most violent areas of the city, and it comes after the implementation of Cure Violence.
It’s been three years since the nationally-recognized violence prevention program came to Jacksonville.
With every violent act, comes pain, and in some cases, retaliation. Cure Violence has found a way to talk to the people most vulnerable to violence and most likely to act violently, and it helps them see peaceful ways to move forward.
“I didn’t have a role model. I was my own role model,” said Ky’Von Brown.
A couple of years ago, his uncle was murdered. Brown lost a mentor in his uncle and his father was away in prison.
He felt alone.
“Coming from the neighborhood, we don’t have any guidance. Zero guidance,” Brown said. “We have no male figure, or sometimes we don’t have a female figure, and it’s both of those in the program. They gave me what I needed.”
A mentor from Cure Violence stepped up to get Brown on a path of healing and focus.
“It’s more than just you are my mentor, I’m your mentee,” Brown said. “It’s like family.”
This is the goal of Cure Violence — getting young men and women to see a healthy path forward in life.
The results of creating that new path were shared in a city council meeting Monday.
Mapping data shows that from 2020 to 2021, for the northwestside and eastside focus areas of Jacksonville, violence reduced.
The city has invested $4 million into the program with three Cure Violence sites throughout the city — Bridges for the Cure in Northwest Jacksonville, Reintegration Solutions Jacksonville, Inc. and Noah’s Ark on the Eastside, and Potter’s House Community Empowering Center on the Westside.
For Brown, he wants to see other people get mentors so that they too can get on the right track to a positive future.
“The program actually helped me set aside my goals and actually put in the steps to achieve them instead of just dream them because goals with actions are just dreams,” Brown said.
Brown is now pursuing his dreams. He has finished real estate school and hopes to work in real estate or one day become a merchant mariner. Brown plans to keep improving his life and the life of his 1-year-old son, so that the next generation has the mentorship and guidance that it needs.