The big question is “What keeps you up at night?” To learn the answers to this question, UUCP House Meetings will be held again in October and November. We need volunteers to host these meetings, which will be held via Zoom. Training for hosting, recording notes and timekeeping will be held soon, so watch your email for the date and time. We truly need everyone’s help to create a more JUST Pensacola.

Twelve members and friends from UUCP attended the JUST Pensacola Rally on August 10th for a total of about 200 local attendees. By the time of this publication the Nehemiah Action Assembly will have occurred. I hope many of you were able to attend virtually and bring at least 3 others to participate. Below are the findings of the research which led to the determination of the “asks” which the JUST Pensacola strategy teams formulated to present at the Nehemiah Action Assembly to encourage change in our community.

EDUCATION

Out of 3,000 Children entering school in 2017, 1,500 were not ready. In 2018 less than 46% of Escambia County’s children entering kindergarten were considered kindergarten- ready (research from Achieve Escambia/UWF Hass Center).
Escambia County ranks 53rd (out of 67 counties) in kindergarten readiness (research from the Studer Institute).

Of those children who attend Voluntary Pre-K, only 56% are ready for kindergarten by the end of the program.

Our Ask: We will be asking Bruce Watson from the Early Learning Coalition for a 10% improvement in the number of children ready for kindergarten in 2021. We will ask ELC to staff accordingly in order to assess pro- gram standards and to provide a self-assessment tool to centers by January 2021 to be completed twice a year. We suggest that the monitoring team work in conjunction with providers in setting goals based on these assessments.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

On August 31, we will ask the State Attorney-Elect, Ginger Bowden Madden, to commit to:

• Increasing the use of civil citations in Escambia County from 46% to 80%.
• Allowing our youth more than one opportunity to use civil citations.
• Reconvening the Civil Citations Committee that is supposed to meet every year to evaluate and encourage the use of civil citations (but has not met since 2016).

  Since several Florida counties have successfully implemented the use of civil citations with adults for non-violent misdemeanors, we will ask that an exploratory committee be convened for Escambia County to develop a plan to implement adult civil citations.

  For more information on these initiatives, please contact Maggie Lovins, Penny Featherstone or Arnie Ondis.