A Letter From Our New ED –
Dear Friends,
I am excited to greet you today as Youth ALIVE!’s new Executive Director. To be honest, this role feels much more like a homecoming for me than a totally new beginning. I joined the Youth ALIVE! family as a program coordinator way back in 2009 and have worked at and with YA! in a variety of capacities over the years. Now, in my new role, I am eager to continue the momentum Oakland’s anchor violence prevention agency has generated as a provider of prevention, intervention and healing for our community, and as a national leader in community violence prevention.
I want you to know what brings me to this work. I come from the fear of being shot as a child growing up in Richmond, CA. I come from losing friends and neighbors to gun violence, from memories of muzzle flash, bright as lightning, outside my kitchen window. I come from feeling tense every July at the sound of neighborhood fireworks. I come from holding my aunt in my arms after she watched a young man gunned down in front of my house in broad daylight. I come from a personal experience of community violence that, like many of my colleagues here at Youth ALIVE!, drive us to do this work.
I did not experience violence in isolation. I also mourned the death of my parents. I navigated the neighborhood politics that made some places safe for me and others not. I experienced community violence while navigating a health care system through the emergency room because I did not have health insurance. I came to realize that the trauma we experience from violence can be compounded by other adversities in our lives.
Fortunately, I did not go through this adversity alone. As a child and young man, I received what we strive to provide to our communities at Youth ALIVE!: support. I believe that where there has been violence, there will be healing.
Together, I know we can achieve our vision of ending violence in Oakland and promoting healing in our communities. At YA!, we know what’s working. In 2022:
- our Intervention Specialists supported over 300 victims
- our Violence Interrupters mediated over 250 conflicts that threatened to become violent
- with our Advocacy partners and clients, we led the passage of a California bill to fund work like ours through Medi-Cal
And we know where we need to go in the year ahead:
- our TNT youth leaders are set to participate in over 30 community engagements
- new partnerships — including with UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland — will help us serve more victims
- We will continue to treat and push for addressing violence as a public health issue
We are in a movement to save lives and promote healing. The actions we take now, no matter how small, will make Oakland healthier and safer. Let’s seize this moment. Let’s get to work!
With excitement and optimism,
Joe Griffin
YA! Executive Director