This brief presents findings regarding the Oakland Department of Violence Prevention’s services across all four of the department’s violence prevention strategies, namely its group violence response (GVR), gender-based violence response (GBV), community healing and restoration (CHR), and school violence intervention and prevention (school VIP). Collectively, these strategies and the services they fund support a robust violence prevention and intervention ecosystem focused on the people, families, schools, and neighborhoods most affected by violence in Oakland.

What We Found

From July 2022 through December 2024, more than 5,000 people were engaged in individual-level services across all strategies. Under the GVR strategy, the most participants were engaged in youth employment services (443 participants), adult life coaching (429), adult employment services (395), youth life coaching (287), and hospital-based intervention (257). Legal advocacy engaged the most participants receiving individual-level services under the GBV strategy (1,425 participants), but hundreds of people also received GBV therapeutic support (641), emergency shelter (434), and employment services (263). Most students receiving individual-level services through the school VIP program received gender-

based violence services (418 participants) and life coaching (203). We also conducted 59 interviews with service recipients, providers, and Department of Violence Prevention leadership, who emphasized the importance of fostering trust between participants and providers and the value of relationship-building between community-based organizations operating in Oakland. Despite the department’s broad reach through direct initiatives and services provided to its 30 funded community-based organizations, the level of need for those affected by violence remains high.