JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A program that was supposed to be the answer to solving Jacksonville’s crime problem is no more.
Cure Violence, a program that was designed to go to people on the street and bring solutions to conflicts before they led to violence, has been defunded after more than four years of work, millions in investments and mixed reviews.
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When Jacksonville began the program nearly five years ago, crime was increasing. The city contracted and paid millions to Cure Violence Global to train mentors, or “street counselors,” to work with youth, gangs and others to try to resolve differences.
At first, it seemed to make a difference. It was eventually expanded to three areas of Jacksonville: the Westside, Northside and Eastside.
MORE: Mayor Curry wants to expand Cure Violence program to other neighborhoods
But then the program fizzled out.
Funding has been increasing over the years — reaching $3.5 million last year — with parts divided between several groups running the program locally, like Potters House on the Westside and Noah’s Ark In east Jacksonville. But in the last budget, Cure Violence was only extended for a few months, and now its time in Jacksonville is over.
Noah’s Ark, a community group that aimed to address violence and homelessness, received some of that grant money to help run the program in Jacksonville. Nobody was there on Monday and News4JAX tried reaching the people who ran the program, but they didn’t respond.
Henry Stokes has been very vocal about the groups and churches that run these social programs and get millions to help, but he said that money never makes its way to the streets.
“It’s not nobody following up on the program, so when they get the money, to make sure they put the money in the right spot. So, now when they get this grant money they need to have a follow-up that makes sure that the people doing the right thing with the money,” Stokes said.
News4JAX did reach someone who ran the program for Potter’s House. They said they were told not to comment and the program was turned over to the city.
Charles Griggs, who is the Director of Community Initiatives for the mayor’s office, said the city is now looking at a long-term strategy to fight crime and that could involve violence intervention similar to the strategy used by Cure Violence.