JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville pastor has been named the recipient of the FBI Director\u2019s Community Leadership Award for 2024 by the FBI\u2019s Jacksonville Field Office.<\/p>\n
Pastor Korey O\u2019Neal is the program director for Project RISE. The award recognizes O\u2019Neal\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur partnership with Pastor O\u2019Neal and Project RISE has impacted the lives of countless at-risk youths and their families in our area,\u201d FBI Jacksonville Special Agent in Charge Jason Carley said. \u201cIn addition, Pastor O\u2019Neal\u2019s leadership and compassion have built lasting trust between law enforcement and the community, showing that real change happens when we work together.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neal talked about what drives him. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m building a legacy of impact, not a record of possessions,\u201d he said. \u201cI choose to be impactful instead of impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pastor Korey O’Neal accepts award from FBI Jacksonville. (Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
One initiative, called \u201cThe Hope and the Hammer,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
Through Project RISE, O\u2019Neal 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.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville pastor has been named the recipient of the FBI Director\u2019s Community Leadership Award…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[45836,116,118,117],"class_list":{"0":"post-142056","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-fbi-jacksonville","9":"tag-jacksonville","10":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","11":"tag-jacksonville-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}