Sharon Brown planned to release balloons in neighborhoods where Jacksonians had lost their lives to gun violence after she was hired to lead the city’s fledgling Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery in early June.
Her goal was to show these communities that someone cares enough to meet them where they are. But she never got that far.
Instead, the longtime community activist said she found herself swamped by the demands of the city’s bureaucracy, such as figuring out how to submit a purchase order for pens or reminding the police department to send her the names of relatives of the recently deceased, so she could bring them candles, flowers and a pamphlet with resources.
What Brown did manage to accomplish in her month leading the office — cleaning a city-owned building that will be the site of a youth engagement center downtown — was through sheer will…