L.O.V.E. Is The Answer Movement Recognized By Bucks Commissioners

BUCKS COUNTY, PA —The L.O.V.E. Is the Answer movement is getting a lot of love lately with some county recognition and federal funding.

This week, the Bucks County Commissioners honored A.J. Ali, the program's founder, for his work in inspiring a series of police-community workshops that many Bucks County police departments and residents have participated.

Ali was also recognized for displaying L.O.V.E. murals in Falls Township and Morrisville, with commissioners saying that another is on the way.

Commissioners thanked the Bucks County District Attorney's Office and The Peace Center; Bucks County for introducing the program and Ali for spreading the L.O.V.E. message: Learn, Open, Volunteer, and Empower. Click here to learn more about the movement.

Ali was also recognized as the director of the “Walking While Black: L.O.V.E. is the Answer” movie and author of the book, “L.O.V.E. is the Answer.”

The movement is also getting some federal funding.

Through the Community Project Funding Request process for the 117th Congress., U.S. Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-1) sought and secured $19.015 million for the projects in Pennsylvania’s First Congressional District, which includes all of Bucks County and a portion of Montgomery County.

L.O.V.E. Is the Answer is among 13 Bucks County projects receiving the federal funding under a bipartisan omnibus appropriations package passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last month.

The $545,000 in funding will go toward continuing community relations improvements with law enforcement.

Bucks County's District Attorney became the first to license the film, "Walking While Black: L.O.V.E. Is The Answer," in 2020.

In less than a year, the DA’s office secured commitments from 30 of the 39 police chiefs in Bucks County to use the film to train officers.

District Attorney Matt Weintraub also generated interest from a Bucks County high school to make viewing the film a graduation requirement, secured a commitment from the County Commissioners to use the film to train all 2,400 county employees on the L.O.V.E. Is The Answer principles, and garnered commitments from several other state district attorneys to use the film to improve police-community relations.

Fitzpatrick said the funding request will enable Weintraub "to go deeper and broader" and position Bucks County as a national model for police-community relations.