Tuesday, Dec 1, 6-730pm
The Wright Place at First United Methodist Church, 6 E Wright St
Renewing our commitment to Affordable Housing, Mental Health & Criminal Justice with JUST Pensacola
Cries for justice and mercy went up recently from a group of 100 members of a dozen local congregations. Seven of us from UUCP were in that group. We gathered at the JUST Pensacola Community Problems Assembly on Tuesday, October 27. We heard updates on the three community problem areas that JUST Pensacola has been working on.
• Affordable Housing: County Commissioners Stroberger and Kohler agreed to designate parcels of land for the community land trust administered by Habitat for Humanity to be set aside for affordable rental housing. However, despite what the commissioners agreed to in May 2025 at the Nehemiah Action, the transfer of land hasn’t been completed. We in JUST Pensacola continue to monitor this action to ensure that the land is designated.
• Mental Health: Many community members struggle with mental health chalenges and have difficulty navigating fragmented systems. We have higher than average rates of substance abuse and mental ilness. The solution that JUST Pensacola proposes is to institute a pilot program using care coordinators and the existing 211 system run by United Way to assist people with navigating resources during periods of need. We continue to work with county and city decisionmakers on funding for this initiative.
• Criminal Justice: The efforts continue to increase the number of youth and adults who are given civil citations rather than arrest for less serious offenses. Pensacola Police Chief Eric Winstrom supports the use of civil citations and spoke about the initiative at the gathering.
Committees work throughout the year to monitor each of these problems and to engage in actions to advance the JUST Pensacola agenda for justice. The next step for our justice movement is to hold the Research Action Kickoff, which is when new and returning members meet to plan the stakeholders they wil be reaching out to in the coming months. Al UUCP members are welcome to participate in the Research Action Kickoff.