Deane Calhoun

Public health activist Deane Calhoun is the founder and Executive Director of Youth ALIVE! She was inspired to work on preventing youth violence when she discovered in the mid-‘80s that gun violence had become the leading killer of young people in California and that Oakland had the highest rate of gun homicide of any city in the state. Since then, she has been recognized with multiple awards for her work:

• Woman of the Year Constituency Award from California State Senate President Perata, 2008
• California Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians Injury Prevention Award, 2008
• Public Affairs Residency Fellowship, The Rockefeller Foundation, 2008
• Award from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms for prevention efforts, October 2005
• Street Safe Kids Community Service Award, 2004
• Eureka Fellow, 1998
• City of Berkeley Proclamation: "Deane Calhoun Day," March 2, 1996
• The California Wellness Foundation Peace Prize December 1995

Through the creation of Youth ALIVE!, Ms. Calhoun combines innovative and effective approaches to preventing gun violence and youth violence. Ms. Calhoun believes that young people living in neighborhoods with high rates of violence are experts in identifying both the causes and realistic solutions to violence. Supporting them in a leadership role in this effort also provides a positive alternative to the violence around them.

Framing gun violence as a public health issue: By compiling data that substantiate the enormous health care costs caused by gun violence, Ms. Calhoun and the Teens on Target members help policymakers understand that gun violence is more than a criminal justice issue, left to be treated in police stations or hospitals after it happens. As the former Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention David Satcher said about violence, "If it's not a public health problem, why are all those people dying from it?"

The public health model calls for changing the conditions in the environment, which cause the health problem to begin with. Often called "going upstream," it means identifying the cause of the problem and working with others to fix it, instead of just resuscitating the victims "downstream" after the catastrophic event–such as a shooting–has occurred. In the case of youth violence, it means limiting access to guns at the manufacturing, distribution and retail sales level, holding those who profit accountable for their damage, and at the same time building youth leadership and positive alternatives to violence.

Focusing on reducing access to guns: Ms. Calhoun and the Teens on Target members worked effectively for a ban on residential gun dealers in Oakland. Prior to the ban, there were 115 dealers in Oakland; now there is only one.

Conducting original research to bolster and support policy changes: Youth ALIVE! has produced original research papers on tracing the origin of illegal guns used by youth, and on the effectiveness of the agency's peer intervention program, Caught in the Crossfire, for hospitalized victims of violence.

Developing broad-based, multi-sector coalitions comprised of law enforcement, health, education, and social service sectors as the best method to develop and enact policy changes, Ms. Calhoun worked with the California Coalition to Ban Assault Weapons to provide expert testimony to the California state legislature. The coalition was made up of doctors, teachers, law enforcement and community members. The ban, the first of its kind in the nation, was passed in 1989. Following this effort, with funding from the US Department of Justice, Youth ALIVE! led the East Oakland Partnership to Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence to lessen the supply and demand for gun acquisition among urban youth. The Partnership recommended and oversaw the implementation of a comprehensive gun tracing program in Oakland.

Creating model policies at the local level, which, because of their success and effectiveness, then spread to become statewide: Ms. Calhoun, through Youth ALIVE! and in partnership with the city council, Oakland Police Department, city attorney's office, trauma doctors and the Alameda County Health Department established Oakland as a city that needed and was willing to develop, enact and enforce regulations on limiting access to firearms. The city enacted a ban on "Saturday Night Specials" and residential gun dealers, because of the work of Ms. Calhoun and others. With the efforts of other partnering organizations including the East Bay Public Safety Corridor and local, state and national gun violence prevention organizations, plus local and state legislators, these policies were passed in other cities in California and then were enacted as statewide policies.

Ms. Calhoun has combined her interests in health care, youth and underserved populations throughout her career. She founded a health center in Wisconsin, developed youth programs in public housing in Washington DC, ran a domestic violence shelter in California, and conducted health policy research and advocacy on numerous issues. She received her MA from the University of Wisconsin in Urban Affairs, with a focus on urban health planning. In 1995, The California Wellness Foundation awarded her the Peace Prize for her work to prevent youth violence.