Community Spring Insights
Introducing Just Community: Narratives That Build Community Power
Over the past five years, Community Spring has grown from an initial concept into a robust organization built on two fundamental pillars: Income and Power. Each pillar represents a distinct approach to creating systemic change…
Celebrating one year of free phone calls at the Alachua County Jail
“Last week, Community Spring staff attended a national conference on fines and fees justice in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Representatives from more than 50 jurisdictions across over 25 states gathered to discuss ways to reform the fines and fees that unfairly trap incarcerated people and their families in debt. While the conference highlighted the work that remains, it was also a reminder that…”
No One Should Be in a Cage
Every few weeks, I would wake up at 5:30 in the morning on a Saturday to drive an hour and a half to go visit my dad in prison. I would barely sleep each night before, riddled with a fear of missing my alarm and I remember feeling the anxiety in my body. The night blended into the morning while I would drive in the dark, trying to…
No Money Mo’ Problems: The Exploitation of Poverty in our Criminal Justice System
Back in 2020, Zach, a local resident, was given a citation for not having car insurance. He couldn’t afford to pay the fine which led to his driver’s license being suspended. He still needed to work in order to pay bills and survive, so he continued to drive. After getting busted two times for driving with a suspended license he served six months in the Alachua County jail. He now…
Breaking the Locks & Creating the Links: Reflections and Next Steps
Our 2022-23 Community Spring campaign, Links Not Locks, has come to a close, but the work will carry on for many years as we continue to disentangle the behavioral health and justice systems. In reflecting on what we’ve done and where we go from here, I wanted to share some key things we learned and some really simple things you can do to improve behavioral health in our community…
Rolling the Crisis Dice: Calling for Help During a Behavioral Health Crisis
I recently had the unfortunate experience of trying to get mental health support for someone very close to me. They were in an acute crisis. The co-morbidities included trauma history, brain trauma, and a history of addiction all exacerbated by recent loss. Trying to navigate the mental health system while they were in crisis was made all the more difficult by the fact that…
No Adults in the Room: My Journey Navigating the Mental Health and Carceral System
There is a unique problem in America - using cages as the answer to behavioral health concerns. Locally, there are over 1,000 beds available at the Alachua County Jail and only 35 at the rehab center. There are unlimited spaces in the criminal court, but in the mental health diversion court, where you may be connected to resources, they are limited to…
Love and Trauma: How we move through the world
Links Not Locks is a campaign focusing on the intersection between mental health crises and incarceration. I've seen time and time again that when folx are in crisis, they are met with force and stigma instead of the help and community support they need.
Last year, my life was filled with what seemed like a never-ending crisis triggered by a series of car accidents. After…
Reinvest in Housing: The GCRA and the Affordable Housing Crisis
Housing in our community is increasingly out of reach for many of our neighbors. There are about 19,000 people in our community who, after paying for the cost of housing available to them, are left with only about $25 per day for other expenses – that’s $175 per week for food, utilities, health and child care, transportation, everything…
Why the Pursuit of Happiness Is Always Political
I want you to imagine a scenario to keep in mind for the rest of this piece. Imagine you are satisfied with your life as a whole, whether this is a scenario about your hopes for the future or your life in the past or present…