JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In 11 days, Jacksonville will have a new mayor. And already Mayor-Elect Donna Deegan’s transition team is working on changes to programs in Jacksonville.
Deegan will be sworn in on July 1 and one campaign promise was to bring back a crime-fighting program known as “Jacksonville Journey.”
On Tuesday, that work started when several committees met to talk about what is needed.
More than 15 years ago, then-Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton announced the formation of the Jacksonville Journey. At the time it was billed as an answer to a growing crime problem in the city. Since then, the organization has shifted into the Kids Hope Alliance.
During one of the transition team meetings focusing on working to revive Jacksonville Journey, Chair W.C. Gentry spoke about the problems the organization faced.
“It’s all fragmented. And under this last administration, it’s very difficult to even figure out where anything is and who’s in charge, and there’s not a coordinated way to look at things,” Gentry said. “That’s the focus of Mayor-Elect Deegan, let’s get focus as to figuring out what the city’s doing, what does the city need to be doing. If programs are not effective, we should get rid of them. If they are, we should probably expand them.”
And to make that happen, it’s not just up to the mayor but the Jacksonville City Hall. And the program will also need funding. Michael Munz chairs the communication committee and said the question of funding is key.
“Whatever the vehicle is is up to City Hall. My point is as a community leader and community steward who spends a lot of time focusing and thinking and worrying about these issues, we can’t do it without having proper funding. I’m not sitting in those seats at council. I am not sitting in the mayor’s office. I’m just sitting out here in the community and I’m seeing as a community advocate. We are going to have to have a tough conversation about how we’re going to fund the programs that we all feel are important.”
The meetings Tuesday were a start, and Pastor Lee Harris was at two of them. News4JAX asked Harris if he heard anything that he thinks could work.
“I will leave that to the new mayor and her findings as to review as to what is presented back to her. And I think as a community will speak and dictate what should be given if given the opportunity,” Harris said, adding that he agrees change is needed.
News4JAX reached out to Deegan’s office for comment but it did not immediately respond.
Later this week the committees will also talk about infrastructure, and they are working quickly because a budget must be presented by mid-July.
The goal is to get ideas in place for the budget and continue fine-tuning until September when the city council will vote on it.