The Guardian | How Youth Alive Serves Latino Community, Despite Trump Funding Cuts
Sergio Diaz knows how to make people feel comfortable. It is a skill he learned from his years as a salesman selling shoes, cellphones and lawn care hardware in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is no longer a salesman, but relating to others is still crucial in Diaz’s work as a gun violence prevention specialist for the Oakland non-profit Youth Alive.
Every day, the 34-year-old goes to trauma centers, like Highland hospital in East Oakland, and meets with people who are recovering after being shot. He talks with them at their bedsides to figure out what they need to redirect them away from retaliation – whether it’s help applying for medical benefits or getting a driver’s license. Beyond his way with words, he says he is able to build relationships with his clients, many of whom are immigrants from Central America, because he understands their circumstances.
Like them, Diaz is all too familiar with violence. Growing up in the East Bay with a family of Salvadorian and Mexican descent, his mother provided the best life she could for him and his siblings, but he kept hanging out in the wrong places and made reckless decisions, he said. When young, Diaz himself was in and out of juvenile hall and lost friends to gun violence. Overcoming those struggles is now his motivation for serving Oakland’s communities who are disproportionately affected by gun violence
“ Sometimes we’re all the positivity a person has while they’re going through the most traumatic experience of their life,” Diaz said.
The work Diaz does is a simple, proven way of reducing gun violence that affects so many in his own community. Despite the success of this work – according to Youth Alive, 96% of the 118 people Diaz and his colleagues served last year have not been re-injured – it’s now in jeopardy. Last year, the Trump administration cut hundreds of millions dollars from violence prevention programs across the US, including Youth Alive. Now, that loss is starting to be felt across California.