The board for the city of Jacksonville’s crime-fighting initiative, Journey Forward, is now fully staffed. Last week, the city council unanimously confirmed the appointment of renowned veteran prosecutor, Bernie de la Rionda.

The board’s 11 newly appointed members will be having their first meeting Thursday at 3 p.m. in the Lynwood Roberts Room at City Hall.

Months after its announcement, Jacksonville’s new crime-fighting initiative, Journey Forward, is starting to take shape.

Years after the Jacksonville Journey ended, a relaunch appropriately titled “Journey Forward” is now in the works. Mayor Donna Deegan briefly talked about it in her budget presentation at City Hall Monday. Journey Forward aims to get to the root cause of crime, and pick up where the Jacksonville Journey left off.

Just before the New Year began, a 16-year-old was killed in a shooting in Mandarin. Then, the shooting death of a 14-year-old in the Sherwood Forest neighborhood marked Jacksonville’s first homicide of the year.

Millions of dollars could be going back into the Jacksonville community and into other programs to address critical issues.

This week the city has been learning more about Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan’s plan for Jacksonville’s future.

In 11 days, Jacksonville will have a new mayor. And already Mayor-Elect Donna Deegan’s transition team is working on changes to programs in Jacksonville.

In 12 days, Donna Deegan will sworn in as Jacksonville’s new mayor. We’ve already learned who some of her key staff will be - and now we going to learn more about policy plans. Starting Tuesday, a series of meetings will be held that will focus on important issues her team will tackle, particularly crime.