The City of Oakland Named as a Recipient of California’s Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant |
Media Contact:
Candace Reese Walters Public Information Officer III Department of Violence Prevention (510) 679-8175 crwalters@oaklandca.gov |
Oakland, CA –t The City of Oakland is excited to announce that it has received a three-year grant for $5,999,948 from the Board of State and Community Corrections’ California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) program to strengthen the social service component of Oakland’s Ceasefire initiative. This grant will significantly strengthen our efforts to reduce fatal and non-fatal shootings with injury in Oakland by allowing the city to implement the following four evidence-based practices with individuals who are at the highest risk for perpetrating or being victimized by gun violence: • Prevention and Intervention Family Systems Model (PIFSM) All grant activities will be implemented by the City’s Department of Violence Prevention (DVP). The DVP will hire six family coaches to implement a prevention and intervention family systems approach, with 192 high-risk individuals and their families in 6-month cohorts, seeking the goal of improving family communication and cohesion to prevent future violence. Street outreach workers will perform relentless outreach with high-risk individuals to proactively mediate conflicts and engage individuals in services. Through a partnership with Roca, Inc., family coaches, outreach workers, and supervisors will be trained in cognitive-behavioral concepts to use with clients and their families. Lastly, outreach workers will identify aspects of the built and natural environment that support gun violence and work with city departments to remediate them. CalVIP funding has been highly successful at reducing gun violence in California during prior years. Cities that received CalVIP grants during the 2018 grant cycle saw gun homicides decrease nearly 3 times more than cities that did not receive CalVIP support. Oakland currently maintains a grant for nearly $1.5 million through the Fiscal Year 2020 CalVIP program that funds custom notifications and procedural justice work related to Oakland’s Ceasefire initiative. We are excited to strengthen this work by focusing significant social and financial resources on individuals and families most impacted by gun violence. "We are grateful that this grant will allow us to support the change process of those individuals and families in Oakland who are at the highest risk of harming others or receiving harm by violent acts. We are committed to aiding in transforming mindsets and building communities free of violence," Guillermo Cespedes, Chief of the DVP. # # # |