April 1, 2011. West Volusia Beacon.
The FAITH group — Fighting Against Injustice Towards Harmony — has been in Volusia County for 10 years. The coalition of churches and temples came together to improve lives in Volusia.
Each year, FAITH chooses a community problem to tackle, and kicks off its yearlong effort with an assembly to put the wheels of change in motion.
This year’s Action Assembly will take place at 6 p.m. Monday, April 4, at the Bethune-Cookman Performing Arts Center, 698 W. International Speedway Blvd. in Daytona Beach.
This year’s topic is decriminalizing homelessness, which FAITH said will save taxpayers thousands of dollars.
Around 2,000 people are expected to attend the assembly and witness the unveiling of Sentencing Alternatives for Volusia Enforcement (SAVE).
SAVE will prevent misdemeanor offenders from ending up in jail because they have no money to pay fines. Many such offenders are homeless.
Instead, SAVE will allow the offenders to serve alternative sentences, such as completing community-service hours or participating in specified programs.
SAVE is a result of cooperation between FAITH, judges of the Volusia County Criminal Court, the Daytona Beach Police Department, the Volusia-Flagler Coalition for the Homeless, and Haven Recovery Center. All the groups will be represented at the assembly.
Faith spokeswoman Theresa Tumminello said she expectsDeLand Police Chief Bill Ridgway, as well as a number of west-side judges, to attend.
The goal is to have the SAVE docket operating in both East and West Volusia, Tumminello said.
The judiciary supports the program.
On April 1, Volusia County court spokeswoman Molly Justice confirmed several judges have been working with FAITH, and the SAVE program will go into effect soon.
The SAVE docket is optional and will be available to all defendants charged with a qualifying misdemeanor offense, such as disorderly conduct or trespass. These are two charges homeless people frequently face.
“Thousands of people in our county want and need assistance to resolve their payable criminal offenses and ordinance violations,” said Volusia County Court Judge Belle B. Schumann.
“Many of these individuals are homeless and do not have the ability to pay $273 in minimum mandatory court costs associated with each case. The SAVE docket will give participants a chance to successfully close their cases while helping themselves and the community at the same time. It will save taxpayer dollars by reducing arrests on warrants for failure to appear in court,” the judge explained.
FAITH will also ask for a bill that will allow better utilization of $19 million in federal funds to establish drug-court expansion in eight counties, including Volusia. The program, begun in 2009, was supposed to divert 4,000 people into alternative programs over two years, and reduce prison costs by around $95 million. By mid-November 2010, however, only 650 prisoners had been admitted to the program.
All are welcome to attend the Action Assembly.
