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  • "It's Saving Lives"

    Posted June 24, 2021

    Biden on Violence Interrupters -

    Youth ALIVE! Violence Interrupter Team Members

    In his June 23 remarks introducing the White House  Comprehensive Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gun Crime and Ensure Public Safety,  President Biden showed a real understanding of the approach and effectiveness of Violence Interrupters like those on our team at Youth ALIVE!. YA! Violence Interrupters mediated 108 conflicts in 2020 and met 106 victims at their hospital bedsides to assess their ongoing safety. They continue to work the streets of Oakland to defuse tensions and de-escalate potentially violent conflicts. Here’s what President Biden had to to say about their life-saving work:

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  • Historic Proposal for Violence Prevention Funding

    Posted June 14, 2021

    Governor Proposes $200M -

    Gun violence – and its human toll in lives lost and devastated victims and families – has risen in Oakla

    nd and across the nation over the past 18 months of our COVID-related public-health crisis, pandemic lock-down, economic devastation and political chaos. Even in the less violent years we had experienced previous to this surge, services for traumatized victims were underfunded and not at levels necessary to address the true scale of the problem and the need. Youth ALIVE! Advocacy Manager Gabriel Garcia expressed the situation with great clarity in his recent piece in Capitol Weekly, Historic Spike in Gun Violence Demands Response from Newsom.

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  • On to the Assembly!

    Posted June 14, 2021

    The Journey of SB 299 Continues -

    In May, SB 299, our bill to make victims of police violence eligible for victim compensation and to expand eligibility for crucial compensation to more f

    amilies of homicide victims, passed out of the State Senate. This was great news.  But there’s still work to do! The bill is now before the Assembly and we need help to assure SB 299 makes it all the way to the Governor’s desk and into law. Driven by calls from survivors to remove unjust barriers to victim compensation and provide the right to heal, this bill would:

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  • California Must Act to Save Lives

    Posted May 11, 2021

    Investing in Violence Prevention

     

     

     

    In Capitol Weekly, Youth ALIVE! Policy & Advocacy Manager Gabriel Garcia breaks down why the state of California must increase violence prevention funding in the face of a historic increase in violence across the state. Because the life-saving and cost-saving benefits of violence prevention programs have been documented through both academic research and the direct experience of clients and staff who see the difference this work has in their own lives and in their communities, the need to support these programs has become undeniable. Read his piece here -Historic spike in gun violence demands response from Newsom

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  • Priorities for Reimagining Public Safety

    Posted May 3, 2021

    Letter to City Council and the Mayor -

    Youth ALIVE! is Oakland’s anchor community organization for violence prevention, intervention, and healing. Our community of staff, volunteers, youth leaders, and clients include Oakland community members directly impacted by violence and/or incarceration. From our unique perspective, we see Oakland’s Reimagining Public Safety process as a valuable opportunity to uplift what real public safety looks like for community members experiencing the least safety. We have three top priorities:

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  • Biden Executive Order Sees YA! Program as Key

    Posted April 15, 2021

    White House Supports Prevention

    Youth ALIVE! created the nation’s very first hospital-based violence intervention program, Caught in the Crossfire (CiC), in 1993. Now a new White House Executive Order will for the first time allow Medicaid to reimburse community programs like Youth ALIVE!’s, acknowledging their healing services to victims and proven effectiveness at preventing further violence. This comes on the heels of President Biden’s jobs bill, unveiled the week prior, that would support community-based violence prevention programs.

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  • Legislative Victory for Trauma Victims

    Posted April 15, 2021

    But We Need Your Help -

    There is financial compensation available to victims of violence. It can make a major difference in their lives, covering funeral expenses, lost wages and counseling. But some who need it are not eligible. Victims of police violence, for one. Another ineligible group is families of certain homicide victims, many of whom are struggling financially. If the police say that their deceased loved one in some way contributed to the situation that led to his death, they are ineligible. Neither are they eligible if the police say they are being uncooperative in an investigation. The police have all the power, and the traumatized victims have very little recourse to appeal. Families find themselves unable to afford a proper funeral. Mothers are unable to properly morn their lost child. Absent this compensation, what are they to do? A new bill could end both of these injustices.

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  • Morris Turner, 1969-2021

    Posted April 15, 2021

    Rest in Power, Rest in Peace, Rest in Love -

    Violence Interrupter Morris Turner had Oakland in his bones. Born and raised in Brookfield Village, middle school at James Madison, high school at Castlemont. At Youth ALIVE!, his main focus was to increase the peace in Deep East Oakland. Morris worked for a time in construction, in home care, but the streets of the Town were calling. He admitted to causing trouble when he was young. But he was called for something different. For peace. For communication. “I’d been wanting to give back,” he said.

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