JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville pastor has been named the recipient of the FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award for 2024 by the FBI’s Jacksonville Field Office.
Pastor Korey O’Neal is the program director for Project RISE. The award recognizes O’Neal’s partnership with the FBI and local law enforcement to combat violent crime and gang activity in North Florida through community-based programs aimed at at-risk youth and their families.
“Our partnership with Pastor O’Neal and Project RISE has impacted the lives of countless at-risk youths and their families in our area,” FBI Jacksonville Special Agent in Charge Jason Carley said. “In addition, Pastor O’Neal’s leadership and compassion have built lasting trust between law enforcement and the community, showing that real change happens when we work together.”
O’Neal said he was nervous when he started his new job working with gang members.
“One of the flaws that I had when I was called to preach the gospel is we were selective of who we wanted to help,” O’Neal said. “The spirit of God told me one day we’re called to help everybody.”
He said everything changed after his first case of a young man accused of selling marijuana.
“His mom brought out his three-month-old baby that had just been born right before he got home. He said I don’t have a job. I don’t go to school. I have to take care of my baby and he showed me the air mattress he and the baby were sleeping on. That inaugural case changed my life and my perspective on helping youth,” O’Neal said.
O’Neal talked about what drives him.
“I’m building a legacy of impact, not a record of possessions,” he said. “I choose to be impactful instead of impressive.”
Since 2021, the FBI Jacksonville Safe Streets Task Force has worked with Project RISE, Partnership for Child Health and other local law enforcement partners on a community-based violence reduction strategy focused on proactive engagement with primarily minority, underprivileged youth.
They work with around 1000 youth who are involved with the justice system and 95 percent don’t re-offend. Of the hundreds of youth they work with who are out of school, with some who dropped out, 70 percent re-enroll.
One initiative, called “The Hope and the Hammer,” involves officers and community leaders making regular visits to households identified as at risk for involvement in violent crime and gangs to offer alternatives and connect families with resources.
Through Project RISE, O’Neal helps tailor assistance that can include job placement, education, medical services, rehabilitation, financial and mental health resources, faith-based support, tattoo removal, legal help and other community services.
He said it can be frustrating working with youth that much of society has given up on.
“Everybody wants to hear the success of what’s going on...there’s often the flip side of what’s going on,” O’Neal said. “We had a youth who was just recently re-arrested. But you don’t give up. We don’t give up. As a matter of fact we told that mom when he gets out we’re right here waiting.”