Jackie Surratt, the founder of the Alexandria Fatherless Coalition nonprofit, has been banned from recreation centers in the city for a year.
It’s not the first time Surratt has been banned. In 2022, he admitted to stepping out of bounds when he yelled at a staffer at William Ramsay Recreation Center (5650 Sanger Ave.) for not observing pandemic-related rules while trying to play ping-pong, resulting in a two-year banishment. This time, he says that the most recent ban, which went into effect last month, is unjust. Surratt says he’s peaceful, and wants the ban lifted in order to administer his mentorship program to Alexandria boys. He’s taken his case to city leaders, City Manager Jim Parajon and City Attorney Cheran Ivery.
The 70-year-old Surratt signed a one-year memorandum of understanding with the city’s Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities in 2019, to administer his mentorship program. The program was sidelined by the pandemic, was reinstated, but then Surratt was banned from Feb. 2022 to Feb. 2024. After that, he and a group of speakers would meet weekly at Charles Houston Recreation Center (901 Wythe St.) to feed boys and provide them with counseling…