The Alligator at the University of Florida recently printed an article on a new program in Alachua County called Just Income GNV. “This privately funded program, designed by formerly incarcerated individuals, assists formerly incarcerated people re-enter society with a guaranteed income.”
Just Income GNV is still in the application process, which ends Dec. 1. A group of 115 people will then be selected randomly to receive $7,600 in the next 12 months. Applications for the second group of the lottery-style selected individuals begins in January 2022.
The criteria to be eligible for the project are:
- Your charge has to be a felony, not a misdemeanor.
- The date of release or beginning of probation has to be on or after June 1, 2021.
- You currently have to be an Alachua County resident.
This group can be reached at [email protected].
I contacted this group recently and was told that the type of charge has no impact whatsoever in applying for the financial help. There are NO excluded groups.
Not only are we dealing with a nonprofit that “gets it”, but Gainesville Mayor Lauren Poe has helped to start up the program by joining Mayors for a Guaranteed Income.
Additionally, Just Income GNV is being closely watched by the Center for Guaranteed Income Research at the University of Pennsylvania and by a professor at Suffolk University. Kevin Scott and Tequila McKnight, who are both helping to coordinate the program, are hoping the research will be a positive in encouraging other communities to begin such projects.
I will have to admit that the Alachua County Sheriff’s office was lenient on the 1500 ft rule of living within the Gainesville city ordinance while I was staying at the Honor Center for Veterans located off of Hawthorne Rd. I was staying there for several reasons. One was due to homelessness at the time. Another was for out patient PTSD treatment.
Within the 1500 ft city ordinance, back in 2013 there was a daycare center located near the Honor Center for Veterans. I thought for sure I was going to have another door for help slammed in my face due to the location of this daycare center being in the proximity of this place for homeless veterans to get help. However, after the Sheriff’s office checked with the staff at the Honor Center they allowed me to stay there. The Gainesville police department came by like every other month to do their checks to make sure I was still living there. Which also didn’t seem to raise the eyebrows of other Veterans there because there was quite a few Veterans on probation at the time during my stay. So the checks didn’t really seem out of the norm.
Anyways, I just wanted to mention this so that if anyone knows a Veteran in a similar situation that the Honor Center is very positive atmosphere. I’m not sure if the Law Enforcement will still bend the rules today like they did back in 2013 but it’s definitely worth checking into.
Gainesville now has a 2500-foot residency restriction. There are problems here, as there are everywhere, but the Gainesville Police Department and the Alachua Co Sheriff’s Office tend to not harass registrants — a much better place to live than places such as Polk Co.
Gainesville Mayor Lauren Poe will be ridiculed/ousted for giving Sex Offenders money, just a matter of time before the Book’s jump on this.
This makes too much sense, the Governor or some other Do-Gooder will attempt to shut this program down for being Un-American or some other illogical reason. Maybe because it might even work.