Prevention

Page Contents: Teens on TargetAdvocacy

 

Youth ALIVE! believes that violence is preventable. 

Teens on Target (TNT)

TNT 4

At Teens on Target (TNT), students from Oakland neighborhoods most affected by violence learn to honor their own stories, to use their experience to make change, and to teach their peers to avoid and prevent violence. TNT also provides work experience; paying students for their developing violence prevention expertise and presentation skills reinforces the importance of their violence prevention efforts.

TNT participants learn a youth-authored violence prevention curriculum and present interactive violence prevention workshops to middle school students across the city.They learn to speak to the media and to city leaders about their stories and their own ideas for change and engage in advocacy efforts in their communities.

“Since joining TNT I’ve noticed that I’ve become a leader. Before I joined I was still finding myself and who I wanted to be. TNT helped me find that confidence I needed to handle myself in tough situations and it’s helped me to become more sure of myself. I’m no longer afraid to be me, speak up when I see something wrong, and bring awareness!” – Sierra, TNT leader for 4 years.

During the 2022-2023 school year, TNTengaged 95 Youth Leaders who presented prevention workshops to 973 students. Beyond the classrooms, they participated in 47 community engagements and received 1,378 hours of 1:1 mentoring. As a result of their diligence, 100% of Youth Leaders surveyed  believe young people have the power to reduce violence in their community and 98% would not choose violence to solve conflict.

This work began with a group of 1989 Castlemont High School students who were growing up in one of Oakland’s most violent communities. They wanted to understand the violence around them and find ways to prevent it.  Those students developed the TNT violence prevention curriculum and advocacy manual as a way of initiating a public discussion of violence, its causes and prevention and becoming part of the solution.

Learn more about TNT and read stories from our participants.

Interested in starting your own youth violence prevention program? Download the Teens on Target Program Manual and Advocacy Manual.

Advocacy for Change

To end gun violence, communities need policy support in addition to individual and programmatic assistance. To push for solutions to the daily violence victimizing our community and city, Youth ALIVE!’s Advocacy for Change (A4C) program raises the voices of those most affected by violence. Through Advocacy for Change the Youth ALIVE! family – including clients, former victims, program staff and our Teens on Target youth leaders – advocate for sensible policies that reduce community violence and that promote a public health approach to violence prevention.

Advocacy for Change addresses city, state and federal leaders to design and pass laws that encourage safety and fairness. A4C works with violence prevention coalitions, proposes and analyzes policy, gives testimony to legislators, and conducts community outreach.

Read about our legislative successes and the bills we’re currently supporting.

 

Speak Up, Speak Out

“Survivors speak, change happens!”

Many who have survived violence feel an urge, even a responsibility, to contribute to making the world a safer, fairer place. Telling  their personal stories of violence and its impact can be a healing experience and a catalyst for change. Speak Up, Speak Out is Youth ALIVE!’s speakers bureau. The program provides public speaking  training for youth and adults, impacted by violence, who are ready to inform the world with their personal and community stories and their ideas for change.The trained participants then join  a roster of speakers who can convey the human toll of violence that statistics can hide.

“This work requires constant, intentional outreach, creating platforms to hear directly from those closest to the issue and convert what they are saying into policy change,” said Gabriel Garcia, Youth ALIVE! Policy & Advocacy Director. “It is something that, because of our position in the community, really only Youth ALIVE! is able to do.”

Interested in inviting one of our speakers to an event? Interested in telling your story of violence the journey to healing? Contact the program coordinator and trainer, Youth ALIVE! Policy & Advocacy Director, Gabriel Garcia.