FBI Little Rock Presents the 2012 Director’s Community Leadership Award to Joyce Mosley Raynor
Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Healing Hearts and Spirits

LITTLE ROCK—Randall C. Coleman, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for the state of Arkansas, announced today that Joyce Mosley Raynor, founder and executive director of the Center for Healing Hearts and Spirits in Little Rock, is this year’s recipient of the FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award for the Little Rock Field Office.

Since 1990, the FBI has publicly recognized and honored the achievements of individuals in their efforts to combat crime, terrorism, drugs, and violence in our nation with the FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award. Each year, one individual or organization in each of the FBI’s 56 field offices is selected whose achievements in the terrorism, crime, drug, gang, or violence prevention and education field have had an exemplary impact on the community.

With more than 25 years of experience working with neighborhood and downtown business communities, Ms. Raynor is nationally recognized for her crime prevention models, which combine crime prevention strategies; economic development; victim services; and police, business, and community partnerships.

Ms. Raynor’s long history of community service culminated in 2001 following the tragic death of her son, Charles Raynor, Jr., who was the city of Little Rock’s first homicide of that year. Turning her personal tragedy into a means to help others, Ms. Raynor left her job at the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce to form the Center for Healing Hearts and Spirits, a not-for-profit organization and project of the Women’s Council on African American Affairs, which assists survivors of violent crime and their affected families through providing access to direct services.

As the founder and executive director of the Center for Healing Hearts and Spirits, Ms. Raynor and her staff have provided a wide-variety of professional services to survivors of violence and their families for over a decade. The Center has assisted over 500 families and has hosted such events as the Statewide Crime Summit, Teen Forum, Tobacco Prevention Campaign, and Neighborhood After-School Programs. Under Joyce’s leadership, the Center founded the Black on Black Crime Coalition comprised of law enforcement officials, business leaders, faith leaders, neighborhood groups, and youth groups. The Coalition has been recognized in the U.S. Congressional Record for its efforts in striving to increase public awareness and to reduce crime in Little Rock. Most recently, the Center established a 24-hour Rape Crisis Hotline, 1-855-6-HELP-4-U, in June 2012 to guide victims of sexual assault in Pulaski, Garland, Lonoke, and Saline Counties through hospital visits, court proceedings, and group therapy.

Ms. Raynor has been the recipient of several awards, including the Arkansas Attorney General’s Victims Advocate of the Year Award; Martin Luther King, Jr. Salute to Greatness Award; and the KARK Community Service Award.

The Little Rock Field Office of the FBI presents Ms. Joyce Mosely Raynor with the 2012 Director’s Community Leadership Award for her selfless dedication to making Little Rock a stronger and safer community through her crime prevention initiatives, assistance to survivors of violent crimes, and her dedication to forming law enforcement and private sector partnerships.

Ms. Raynor was presented with a certificate today in the FBI offices in Little Rock. A formal ceremony will be held at FBI Headquarters in early 2013, during which the FBI Director will personally present her and her fellow honorees in other states with their awards.