The FBI Jackson Field Office is honoring this year’s recipient of the Director’s Community Leadership Award. David and Amy Lancaster of We Will Go Ministries were selected for their work with inner city residents in the Farish Street area of Jackson. The Lancasters will travel to FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Friday to accept the award in person from FBI Director James B. Comey.

For more than a decade, this couple and their family have been making a difference in the lives of their neighbors in downtown Jackson.

The Lancasters transplanted themselves from the affluent Jackson suburbs to the often misunderstood inner city of Jackson and are a shining beacon in a dark world.

“From a coffee shop to an abandoned gymnasium to after school activities for inner city youth, We Will Go has gone above and beyond, showing love to those who need it the most,” said Donald Alway, special agent in charge of the FBI in Mississippi.

The FBI is not the only entity that has seen the impact of their efforts. Even hard core drug dealers in Jackson are taking notice and asking questions about what’s happening in the Farish Street neighborhood the ministry calls home.

“Last week, a neighborhood drug dealer approached me while I was vacuuming my car and said he had been watching me,” said Amy Lancaster, founder of We Will Go. “He said dealing drugs was all he had ever known but wanted to know how to prevent his son from falling into the same trap. We told him every person has worth and value,” Lancaster told a gathering of FBI employees recently.

As a law enforcement agency with limited resources, law enforcement can only do so much to help keep our communities safe. Private, non-profit, and faith-based organizations like We Will Go are vitally important partners if we are to make our communities the best they can be. While our missions may differ, our goal is the same: to make Jackson and our state a safer place to live and work.

- We Will Go: WeWillGo.org