Nearly $1.6 million for Cure Violence up for discussion at Jacksonville City Council Meeting

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — On Tuesday night, Jacksonville City Council will hold the final vote on Mayor Lenny Curry's $1.4 billion budget for the 2019-2020 fiscal year.

UPDATED STORY: Jacksonville City Budget passed

Action News Jax told you in July, nearly $4 million of that is going to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office in overtime pay to provide more security at local schools.

Another $2.25 million is proposed for a new design of the Jacksonville Landing site.

Action News Jax reporter Courtney Cole learned the Mayor Curry's budget also calls for more than $1 million for recently launched, anti-crime program Cure Violence.

Just last Wednesday, Mayor Curry talked about the 25-day streak without a shooting or killing in the targeted areas on the Northside and Eastside.

Cole talked to the implementation director of the program and one of the city councilmen who sponsored the bill, to see how this large amount of money will be used in the new fiscal year.

"So far, we've had a lot of very positive signs from it. It's still early, but we've seen the kind of positive feedback we're looking for," said Damian Cook.

Cook, the grant administrator for the city of Jacksonville and the Cure Violence implementation director, is talking about the Cure Violence Program.

The Chicago-based initiative began training in Jacksonville in April and launched in June.

Just last week Mayor Curry talked about the crime-free streak in two of the targeted areas.

"Cure Violence is having a positive impact on violence in the target areas. Both sites have had a stretch of at least 25 days in a row without a shooting or killing. It's a small step, but the right one," Mayor Curry said.

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Cure Violence has been focused on two areas:

: From the railroad tracks South of Kings Road, up to Edgewood and over I- 95; and

: On the other side of I-95, in the areas of A. Phillip Randolph and University Plaza

The mayor is requesting $1,595,000 for the 2019-2020 fiscal year.

That's a 47% increase from the money originally allocated for Cure Violence.

Action News Jax Courtney Cole asked how this increase in money would be used.

"The bulk of it goes to the sites. The bulk of it is an investment directly in the community. A smaller piece of it is to continue to have Cure Violence Global give training assistance to the city so that we implement the model as it was designed … and an even smaller piece is for data analysis," Cook told Action News Jax.

A cosponsor of the bill, Councilman Samuel Newby told me  the  $764,000 originally allocated for Cure Violence was only based on a six-month period.

With crime and public safety being their biggest concern, Newby says he hopes progress with the program will continue.

"Hopefully, if it does well — we'll be able to expand it to the other side of the Northside and even on the Westside," said Newby.

Cook told Cole the request for the nearly $1.6M has passed two council committees so far, so now we'll wait to learn if it receives full council approval tonight.

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