The Nehemiah Action was a big success. It was held on May 6th at First Baptist church of Warrington, with over 700 community members from 17 different congregations present. We heard commitments for local justice from our state attorney and two county commissioners. There were 40 of us from UUCP who attended. We should be very proud of our participation in this community action.

The issues we were addressing with the State Attorney, Ginger Bowden Madden, were the declining use of civil citations for juveniles and their inadequate usage for adults. Civil citations instead of arrests both save tax money and remove the stigma of an arrest record for first-time, non-violent offenders. The requests that JUST Pensacola Social Justice Committee made were three; they were designed to help JUST Pensacola watch the usage and find out where and how things can improve.

1) We asked that the Sheriff’s Deputies and the Police Officers receive a training in the use of civil citations. The training will be designed and delivered by the office of the State Attorney. The law enforcement officers are the point of contact when a civil citation could be offered.

2)We asked for a quarterly update on statistics and what is helping or hindering the effort.

3) We asked for quarterly meeting with a representative of JUST Pensacola and a representative from the SA’s office

She answered “Yes” to all the asks!!!

JUST for Justice!!!

We asked County Commissioners, Kohler and Stroberger for one commitment each. We asked that each of them identify parcels of land in their district that they will transfer into the Northwest Florida Community Land Trust. Once there, Habitat for Humanity has agreed to build permanently affordable housing either to rent or to buy on a percentage of the parcels.

They each said “Yes!”

Who deserves a place to stay! Every one everyday!

Questions? Ask Paula Montgomery