Rep. Shev Jones, D-West Park
Date of Birth: Oct. 12, 1983
Birthplace: Hollywood
Residence: West Park
Education:Florida Atlantic University, Master of Science in Higher Education
Occupation: Vice president of community afairs for McKinley-Alston Financial
Previous Public Office:None
Family: Wife
Did you know?Is a lead singer in his church choir, where he has sang since middle school. Mom and dad are in the choir, too. ("My brothers can't sing a lick; they sound terrible.")Very few 29 year-olds can truthfully boast of having founded and chaired asuccessfulnonprofit for seven years, mentoring hundreds of students in the process. But then, few 29 year-olds can boast election to their state legislatures, especially when they have no prior political experience.
Of course, "experience" is in the eye of the beholder. Freshman Rep. Shev Jones, D-West Park, may not have held public office before his election to the Florida House in November, but he's no stranger to politics. His father, Eric Jones, has been the mayor of West Park since the city's incorporation in 2005.
"Both mom and dad influenced me; as we were growing up, my parents believed in community engagement," Rep. Jones tells Sunshine State News. "And they really believed in my brothers and I taking an active approach to the process, whatever that entailed, whether it meant being on a commission or being an active volunteer."
Jones is chairman and CEO of Leaders by Empowerment-Activists by Development (LEAD Nation), a charity he co-founded in 2006 to assist underprivileged schoolchildren to stay out of trouble, obtain and maintain high academicachievement,and become positive role models to their peers. He proudly relates that some 400 students have been mentored through the program and 100 percent of them have graduated high school; he considers LEAD his proudest community service accomplishment.
That passion for youth education and development is reflected in several pieces of legislation he has introduced over the last several weeks.
HB 161 ("Volunteers for Organized Youth Sports and Recreation Programs") would expand already-existing provisions in state law that require athletic coaches to undergo criminal background checks if they use publicly owned facilities.
"These individuals are coaching our children, who are our most prizedpossession and they're on the field with these kids in close proximity and we're not paying attention to them," says Jones, who explains that he was motivated to introduce the bill after hearing numerous complaints of coaches and volunteers who were encouraging fighting, gambling, and other vices on the playing field.
HB 161 requires that all volunteers making use of public facilities, and not just designated "coaches," undergo background checks on a yearly basis, and that local governments maintain documentation of these checks for at least five years after they are conducted.
A second bill, HB 213 ("College and Career Readiness"), would require that public schools make college and career preparatory courses available to 11th and 12th graders. Jones says the classes are needed in order to better prepare students for their post-graduate lives.
"What the college professors are telling us is that students are coming to their classes without havingtransitionedfrom [writing and math] formulas they have learned in high school," he explains. "We need to get regular students, not just honors students, ready to make this transition."
A third bill particularly close to Jones' heart is HB 549 ("Relief for James Joseph Richardson"), which would award $3 million to James Richardson, a migrant who spent 22 years in prison, after having been wrongly accused ofmurderinghis seven children and been denied a fair trial (prosecutorswithheldexonerating evidence from Richardson's lawyers). The kids' babysitter, one Betsy Reese, eventually confessed to poisoning the children.
"To this day, he has not been to thegrave-siteto visit his children because it continues to haunt him," Jones relates. "And all he's asking for from the state is that he be compensated for the life that we took away from him.
"I am in full support of this man."
Reach Eric Giunta at egiunta@sunshinestatenews.com or at (954) 235-9116.
