Gainesville City Commission hears Gun Violence Prevention Alliance Strategic Plan, expresses concerns about school closures in East Gainesville

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the February 12 General Policy Committee meeting, the Gainesville City Commission heard the Gun Violence Prevention Alliance’s 5-year Strategic Plan and expressed concerns about proposed school closures in East Gainesville.

Success measures

Director of Community Health Initiatives Brandy Stone introduced the Strategic Plan presentation, created by Roslyn Rice and Renee Scott from the consultant firm DPI, and Gun Violence Intervention Program Manager Brittany Coleman listed the “success measures” or “themes” that arose during the consultants’ work to develop the Strategic Plan:

• Start early with our kids
• Help young men build strong futures
• Education and literacy as prevention
• Strengthen families and support parents
• Anger management and conflict resolution
• Data transparency and shared accountability
• Support youth coming home from detention
• Keep the work going

Coleman said starting early includes maternal healthcare and wrap-around services to families, in addition to early childhood education. The Plan emphasizes helping young men because, Coleman said, “As we look at the data, we know that young men between 16 and 24 tend to be the largest subset of folks who are most vulnerable to either victimization or being involved in gun violence,… but by no means is it exclusive.”

Coleman said, “Anger management can also be thought about as emotional regulation… Think about isolation, sadness, fear, confusion, and if there isn’t a framework or tools around how to manage those big emotions, it can lead to conflict… This is a learned skill, and, as such, it should be incorporated into… [the foundation of] the projects that we fund,… and not just something that supplements those initiatives.”

Coleman said, “Time and time again, folks say, ‘Well, what is being done? What is available? Where can I get my child signed up for these things? Where can I go for these different services?’ We know that as a community, there are a lot of things available, but how people have access to that information is where we identified a gap.”

Regarding supporting youth coming home from detention, Coleman said that includes “how we welcome young people and adults back into our community after incarceration, how we provide access to services, how we support the families and the neighborhoods that folks are coming back home to.”

Objectives of the Strategic Plan

Coleman listed the ten objectives of the Strategic Plan:

1. Deepen and sustain gun violence reduction and firearm-related injuries.
2. Institutionalize gun violence prevention across City and County systems. 
3. Establish a coordinated system of care for school-aged youth (K-12). 
4. Advance healing-centered systems and communities. 
5. Increase youth voice and leadership. 
6. Expand re-entry pathways and access to employment opportunities. 
7. Advance economic and geographic equity in resource distribution. 
8. Strengthen family stability and economic mobility supports.
9. Enhance cross-sector collaboration and data transparency. 
10. Increase community capacity and long-term/multi-sector investments. 

Coleman said the sixth objective (expanding re-entry pathways) is about “how we welcome community members back to our community… How do we expand and support workforce development, education opportunities, community support systems, and mental health?”

She said the seventh objective (advancing economic and geographic equity) is about “looking at the conditions and the environments in which folks live. This objective is about looking at some of the broader systemic issues, like housing, access to healthcare, child care, equitable resource distribution in neighborhoods.” 

She said the eighth objective (strengthening family stability) is about “understanding that strong families are the foundation of safe and thriving communities, and this embraces the need to create stable, nurturing environments that families can create for their young people.”

Data transparency means “getting data out of silos and figuring out how to build a dashboard that brings data sharing, process management, and collective learning [together] and making sure that folks know how to access them.”

Coleman said the tenth objective (increasing community capacity) “focuses on how we strengthen our grassroots nonprofit organizations, how we help build capacity in their processes and their procedures and their initiatives… Increasing who is doing the work, not just City and County, is important.”

Click here to see the Gun Violence Prevention Alliance Strategic Plan presentation.

The plan will be presented to the County Commission on February 24 and will be discussed at the Joint City and County Commission meeting on March 9.

Mayor Ward: “If we’re letting [the media] lead the conversation on what is happening with gun violence, that doesn’t help our community, or components of our community, see the story and understand what is really happening.”

Mayor Harvey Ward said there are real questions surrounding the best way to communicate data about gun violence: “I think sharing the data out as quickly as possible to the community, whether it’s good or bad, is positive. If we allow everybody’s reality to be shaped by whatever story the news media tells us — and this is not a dig at the news media at all — but we’re always going to be feeling like we’ve done the wrong thing, because good news isn’t news. You know,… if people aren’t shooting guns, that is not news… If somebody gets shot, that’s a news story. So they’re doing what they’re supposed to do. But if we’re letting them lead the conversation on what is happening with gun violence, that doesn’t help our community, or components of our community, see the story and understand what is really happening.”

Ward continued, “Data is only useful if it’s good living and breathing data that points us in a direction, that helps us make good decisions, and it’s not just a spreadsheet that we can refer back to and read.”

In response to a question from Commissioner Bryan Eastman about next steps, Coleman said they want to hear from the City and County Commissions, rank the priorities of the objectives, and determine which stakeholders want to work on specific objectives. 

Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker said she had hoped to see more information about implementation in the Strategic Plan. She was specifically concerned that the effort should “have a place to live” in local institutions: “And so I’m grateful that we eventually got to the place where ImpactGNV was created. How is the Alliance envisioning the growth of ImpactGNV? What does the future of ImpactGNV look like?… That’s something that I would expect to see in the Strategic Plan… It speaks directly to our ability to see this work be lived out well beyond the five-year mark. We know we’re in this for the long haul, and when you consider the volatility of City budgets, changing City Commissions, [that’s why I moved this forward — to create] a place that is dedicated to doing this work.”

Gun Violence Intervention Program Manager Coleman: “We really need and want our staff to be full-time. We want them to have access to benefits, and we want to grow additional roles that can help us be more present and visible in the community as we build sustainable referral opportunities between us and other organizations.”

Coleman said the Alliance wants to see part-time positions at ImpactGNV expanded to full-time positions, and they’re looking at federal grants “to help sustain that growth,” along with “philanthropic opportunities… We really need and want our staff to be full-time. We want them to have access to benefits, and we want to grow additional roles that can help us be more present and visible in the community as we build sustainable referral opportunities between us and other organizations.”

Commissioner Duncan-Walker: “I hope that as that staff grows,… that we’re doing that in a very conscious and very intentional way, and that members of the leadership team will expand to include African American men and individuals who represent the most impacted communities.”

Duncan-Walker responded, “I was thinking about the staff in ImpactGNV, as well, and how important representation is, and so I hope that as that staff grows,… that we’re doing that in a very conscious and very intentional way, and that members of the leadership team will expand to include African American men and individuals who represent the most impacted communities. That’s incredibly, incredibly important.” Duncan-Walker said she’d also like to see more involvement from the State Attorney’s Office and asked for representatives of the Violence Interrupters and the BOLD program to be present at the joint City/County meeting.

Commissioner Ed Book said that Objective 7 (advance economic and geographic equity) is “precisely what led to SWAG. It came from resource data that was very unique, stuff like pregnancy data, literacy, birth rates,… the data they use to help inform equity and resource distribution.” He suggested additional partners that could make “an incredibly strong grant application for something that fits into these objectives.” He also suggested a campaign to reach out to victims to tell their stories. 

ARPA funding for the gun violence prevention effort is expiring

Interim City Manager Andrew Persons said the implementation strategies would be “an ongoing discussion with the Commission.” He said the funding for ImpactGNV is a “hodgepodge in the nicest sense of the word”: some of the funding comes from the General Fund (BOLD), the Children’s Trust of Alachua County (Violence Interrupters), and “some significant portion comes from ARPA… So that’s going to be a discussion that you’re all going to have during the budget season about — do we want to continue this?” He said his recommendation would be to continue, but they will need to figure out how to continue to fund it.

Commissioner Duncan-Walker on literacy: “If you can’t read, you can’t do anything, and when we understand the statistics that young African American students are staring down the barrel at — because that’s the equity issue — we’re looking at potential catastrophe amongst a certain group of students because of a lack of access.”

Duncan-Walker said she was glad that literacy was one of the success measures, and literacy “could very well, in my opinion, be taken on very similarly to the way that we’ve addressed gun violence, as a matter of public health. If you can’t read, you can’t do anything, and when we understand the statistics that young African American students are staring down the barrel at — because that’s the equity issue — we’re looking at potential catastrophe amongst a certain group of students because of a lack of access.”

Motion

Book made a motion to approve staff’s recommendation, which was to “authorize staff to continue planning and collaborative efforts toward implementation of the strategies outlined in the Plan and recommend that the Strategic Plan be discussed at the March 9 Joint City and County Commission meeting to approve its implementation.” Duncan-Walker seconded the motion, and the motion passed 5-0, with Commissioners Cynthia Chestnut and James Ingle absent.

Concerns about proposed school closures

Several Commissioners had indicated during the Strategic Plan discussion that they wanted to discuss the School Board’s rezoning maps, so that discussion was held during Member Comment.

Commissioner Casey Willits described the School Board’s February 6 joint meeting with elected officials, which he attended on behalf of the City of Gainesville. He said he was concerned that the school district plans to close Rawlings Elementary because “the County put in millions of affordable housing dollars into Sweetwater Square, right across the way,… [partially because that was ] affordable housing, right next to a school.” He said the “big pieces” the City would be interested in are the closures of Rawlings and Foster Elementary Schools and Duval Early Learning Center. He said one of the reasons for closing Foster was that it’s on a main thoroughfare, but “Terwilliger is on – it’s two lanes now… I was like, ‘Whoa, what’s up with that?’ because Terwilliger is on a two-lane that will undoubtedly become a four-lane.” At the meeting, staff told Willits that student drop-off will be on the other side of the school, away from the busy road. 

Ward and Duncan-Walker support asking the School Board to delay its decision

Ward said he was interested in inviting the School Board to make a presentation directly to the City Commission about the changes “and also — I understand this is a heavy lift — but asking them as well to postpone a little bit their final decision… because this is a big deal.” The School Board plans to vote on the maps on March 12, to be ready for Fall 2026.

Ward said that the City of Gainesville and Alachua County “have invested very heavily… in East Gainesville, and removing multiple elementary schools really kind of…” He broke off and then continued, “And I may just not understand; I may need a better understanding of how this helps everybody… I think there are probably some things that they have not considered.”

Commissioner Duncan-Walker: “[Closing schools would] have a substantial impact on the psyche of the individuals who live in the communities — already used to disinvestment, already not trusting local government to do what we say.”

Duncan-Walker said the changes “up-end” the City’s investments into East Gainesville: “What we all clearly understand is that we can’t begin to dream of economic development if any of the schools are flailing or simply not there. What young family do you know who wants to move to an area where there either is not a school or where that school is insufficient?” She said the school closings would “have a substantial impact on the psyche of the individuals who live in the communities — already used to disinvestment, already not trusting local government to do what we say.” She said, however, that she sympathized with the School Board’s need to make “very difficult decisions” with limited resources. 

Duncan-Walker also noted that the school closings will make East Gainesville less walkable. She said the City Commission wants “to chart a pathway forward to assist, because at the end of the day, our goal is the same, and it is to improve the quality of life for all our neighbors.”

Commissioner Duncan-Walker: “I’m shaking in my boots at the idea that some young people who already need a little more encouragement to go to school — just the idea that a school won’t be there will make them less inclined to go to school at all.”

Referring to the gun violence discussion they’d just had, she said, “We know that access to quality education is a root cause of [gun violence]. So I’m shaking in my boots at the idea that any more schools could close, particularly in East Gainesville, where it is already a hot spot. I’m shaking in my boots at the idea that some young people who already need a little more encouragement to go to school — just the idea that a school won’t be there will make them less inclined to go to school at all.” She agreed that the City should ask the School Board to delay the decision.

Commissioner Ed Book said he would be “very reluctant for us, as a government body, to tell them, ‘Delay your timeline.'” He encouraged the City Manager to send the Commission’s concerns to the Superintendent. Ward said it would only be “a polite request” to delay.

Commissioner Bryan Eastman: “Just because you’re in a crisis you have to respond to, doesn’t mean that every response is a good response, right?”

Eastman was also sympathetic to the school district’s limited resources, but “just because you’re in a crisis you have to respond to, doesn’t mean that every response is a good response, right?” He said he had wanted to “let the process play out,… but obviously, this matters a lot.”

Effects of eliminating property taxes for homesteaded properties

Eastman referred to the County’s recent presentation on the effects of eliminating property taxes for homesteaded properties and said he would like to see something similar for the City. Persons said he thought it was “a little bit premature” at this point, but his staff would provide an analysis “once we have a better picture of which… proposals are going to have legs.”