BOLD Justice organization

BOLD JUSTICE

Broward Organized Leaders Doing Justice

Background

Broward Organized Leaders Doing Justice (BOLD Justice) is an organization of religious congregations throughout Broward County which are working together to solve critical community problems. We are not a service provider, but a grassroots, direct action, multi-issued organization, which has come to be a powerful force for improving the quality of life in our community.

Accomplishments

Since BOLD Justice’s beginning in 2007, we have brought people together from different religious denominations, different areas of the community, and different races to work together on issues of common concern. These are just a few of the community improvements resulting from BOLD Justice’s work:

Florida arrests more youth under the age of 18 than almost any other state. Many of those youth are arrested for minor offenses (throwing an orange on a bus, steeling a candy bar, etc). These arrests follow them for life locking them out of jobs, the military, and sometimes even college scholarships. The state has a program called civil citation, which allows law enforcement the ability to divert first time youth who commit a minor offense out of the criminal justice system and into community service programs without receiving an arrest record. In 2015 BOLD Justice worked with 9 other DART organizations across the state of Florida to pass SB378. SB378 expands the state’s civil citation program. Previously youth could only receive one civil citation, now they can receive up to three.

In 2014, after two and a half years of pushing from BOLD Justice, the Broward County Commission passed the Workforce Investment Act, which stipulates that any company receiving a county contract worth more than $500,000 must give preference during their hiring process to Broward County residents and ‘hard to hire’ candidates. It is estimated that this law will impact approximately 45 contracts worth $290 million in just its first year.

In 2012, BOLD Justice got a commitment from the Superintendent to pilot Direct Instruction in underperforming schools in Broward County. It was launched at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in January 2013 and at Dillard Elementary School in August 2013, and will serve approximately 500 students between these two schools. Direct Instruction is a research-based reading curriculum that has been shown to raise the literacy rates of low-performing students.

In 2011 BOLD Justice worked with five other DART affiliates to pass SB400. SB400 changed several “red tape” problems with admitting non-violent drug offenders into Drug Courts in Florida. As a result of the work of these DART affiliates (including BOLD Justice), Governor Scott signed this bill into law on May 5th, 2011. Over a two year period of time, as a result of the changes this bill implemented, drug court was able to serve 2,000 people and save the state of Florida over $95 million.

Over a three year period of time, culminating in 2011, BOLD Justice worked on Affordable Rental Housing. Broward County is 6th in the nation for households paying more than half of their income for housing. We have 42,000 households that report paying more than half of their income for rent. BOLD Justice was able to get the County Administrator to prioritize rental housing, place funding for gap financing so that developers could build affordable housing, and secure additional revenue to build affordable rental housing. As a result, 2,322 new affordable rental projects have been funded across Broward County and all of these are currently open. Two of the projects that are open can be found at 7481 NW 33rd St, in Davie and the corner of NW 8th St and NW 10th Terr in Ft. Lauderdale. The remaining projects stretch over the entire county.

In 2010, the Broward County Administrator committed to invite a non-profit organization with a track record for successfully modifying home mortgages in danger of foreclosure to South Florida to hold an on the spot mortgage modification event. The event was held in August of 2010. 3,544 families received on the spot mortgage modifications allowing them to stay in their homes.

Also in 2010, BOLD Justice identified 44 high crime areas (“Hot Spots”) near our congregations. The majority of these hot spots were in Ft. Lauderdale near the Sistrunk neighborhood. BOLD Justice was able to get the Chief of Police for Ft. Lauderdale to commit to increase police protection in these areas resulting in 40 arrests.

In 2009 BOLD Justice got a commitment from a representative of the local Work Force One board to implement a service to get training for Work Force One employees to correct flags in the unemployment database – streamlining the unemployment process. Employees received this training in May 2009 and serve approximately 900 people a week.

Current Membership

Presently, 20 congregations and groups with over 30,000 members are members of BOLD Justice. We come from all parts of Broward County, and we represent a diverse mix of African American, Anglo, Hispanic, Haitian, and Islander persons, coming from different religious traditions, including Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Jewish, United Methodist, AME and Presbyterian.

BOLD Justice Officers 2015

Co-President

Roland Abel

Miramar United Methodist Church, Miramar

 

Co-President

Jean Anderson

First Lutheran Church, Ft. Lauderdale

 

Vice President

Lisa Montalchi

Trinity Lutheran, Pembroke Pines

 

Treasurer

Rev. Andrea Byer

Village United Methodist Church, North Lauderdale

 

At-Large

Rev. Michael Anderson

New Jerusalem Baptist Church, Hollywood

 

At-Large

Joseph Lawrence

St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church, Pompano Beach

 

At-Large

Alba Cortez

Stg. Maurice at Resurrection Catholic Church, Dania Beach

 

At-Large

Sally Wolfer

Little Flower Catholic, Hollywood

Contact Us

441 NE 3rd Ave
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301
Tel. 954-463-2322

Andy Lee
Lead Organizer
boldjustice1@gmail.com

Greer Aeschbury
Associate Organizer
greer@thedartcenter.org

~ MEMBER CONGREGATIONS ~

Abiding Savior Lutheran Rev. Bill Knott 1900 SW 35th Ave Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312	First Evangelical Lutheran Church Rev. Bill Knott 441 Northeast Third Avenue Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301	First Presbyterian Rev. Kennedy McGowan 1530 Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood, FL 33020
Holy Temple Holiness Church of Deliverance Bishop Thomas Douglas 3798 NW 19th Street Lauderhill, FL 33311	Little Flower Catholic Church Fr. Thomas O’Dwyer 1805 Pierce Street Hollywood, FL 33021	Merrell United Methodist Church Rev. Bancroft Williams 3900 State Road 7 Lauderdale Lakes, FL 33319
Miramar United Methodist Church Rev. David Range 2507 Utopia Drive Miramar, FL 33023	New Jerusalem Baptist Church Rev. Michael Anderson 2326 Douglas St Hollywood, FL 33020	Our Savior Lutheran Rev. Mark Abrahms 8001 NW 5th Street Plantation, FL 33324
St. Bonaventure Catholic Church Fr. Ed Prendergast 1301 SW 136th Ave Davie, FL 33325	St. Clement Catholic Church Fr. Robes Charles 2795 N Andrews Ave Wilton Manors, FL 33311	St. Elizabeth of Hungary Fr. Harry Loubriel 3331 NE 10th Terr Pompano Beach, FL 33064
St. John United Methodist Church Rev. Simon Osunlana 1520 NW 5th Street Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33311	St. Maurice Catholic Church Fr. Roger Holoubek 2851 Stirling Road Dania Beach, FL 33312	St. Paul Lutheran Church Rev. Timothy Hartner 580 Indian Trace Weston, FL 33326
St. Stephen Catholic Church Fr. Patrick Charles 2000 S. State Road 7 Miramar, FL 33023	Trinity Lutheran Church Rev. Keith Spencer 7150 Pines Boulevard Pembroke Pines, FL 33024	Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Lauderdale Rev. Gail Tapscott 3970 NW 21st Ave Oakland Park, FL 33309
	Village United Methodist Church Rev. Andrea Byer 1001 SW 71st Ave North Lauderdale, FL 33068