ICARE: Update on Our Progress Toward This Year's Initiatives
Our Education Initiative:
Academic achievement is the greatest predictor of child’s future. When children enter kindergarten not ready to learn they start out at a clear disadvantage and rarely ever catch up. Our Early Learning Coalition (ELC) and Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) providers are effectively teaching kids the skills they need to succeed in school. A quarter of our four-year-olds are not accessing VPK and there is currently a waiting list for school readiness vouchers for our most at risk children. We are asking the ELC of Duval to prioritize four-year-olds on the waiting list and require that all four-year-olds who receive these vouchers also utilize VPK, increasing the population of children successfully prepared to enter school. This would make available $1.5 million in voucher funds thereby increasing the accessibility of these vouchers so that more at-risk children have the opportunity for academic achievement. However, increasing enrollment and access is not enough. We want the Duval County Public Schools System and the Early Learning Coalition to work together to assess how effective these programs are and prove their value. Let’s maximize our current resources and give more of our children most in need a chance at educational attainment.
On March 22 1,200 ICARE leaders and secured commitments from the Early Learning Coalition and the Jacksonville Children's Commission to expand access to quality early literacy programs. This will result in an additional 2.1 million dollars available for working low-income families providing full-day care specifically for quality early literacy programs.
In addition we secured a commitment from DCPS to track achievement of 4 year olds in early literacy programs through elementary and middle school. This will provide a data driven accountability measure both for early literacy programs and the school district.
Our Youth Crime and Drugs Initiative
We want a juvenile justice system that allows the community to come together and work to restore justice and reduce crime and keeps kids out of jail. We need a system that fully recognizes the victim’s rights and needs, while also allowing the offender to take responsibility for his/her offense. Restorative justice creates a sense of ownership and connectedness that can develop and renew a greater sense of community. It helps teach kids how to make the right choices. This process allows us to turn wrongdoing into an opportunity to focus on the harm done to the victim and community and then decide on what needs to be done to repair that harm. In so doing, justice is restored, crime is reduced, and community is strengthened. As a committee we are finalizing which institutions we want to be a part of this. We want a program that brings the community together, allows the offender to understand the impact of their offense while at the same time allowing the victim to be a part of the restitution process and have an opportunity to heal.
On March 22, we secured commitments from Sheriff Rutherford and DCPS to implement an evidence-based Restorative Justice program in the school district to reduce referrals to the Department of Juvenile Justice.
