This brief presents findings on Oakland residents’ views on safety and violence. Four hundred adult Oakland residents responded to surveys conducted by the Urban Institute and Urban Strategies Council in summer 2023. The survey is part of a process and impact evaluation of violence-intervention and -prevention activities funded by the Public Safety and Services Violence Prevention Act (popularly known as Measure Z).

What We Found

Survey responses show that Oakland residents have a high degree of concern about their personal safety. Responses also indicate that residents were aware of many services funded by the Oakland Department of Violence Prevention and had generally positive views of the department’s services. Respondents also generally felt happy in Oakland, but a minority felt that their neighborhoods had become a better place to live. The survey also asked about experiences with crime and receiving services, with the majority of survey respondents who had been the victim of a crime saying that they had received services in response to that victimization. A final evaluation report will complement the findings in this brief with the results of a second community survey wave conducted in summer 2024.