Sacramento to spend $3 million to prevent gun violence among 12 to 17-year-olds
An impromptu shrine commemorates the life of 9-year-old Makaylah Brent, who was shot and killed in the park in October.
More resources will flow toward mentoring teens in Sacramento to keep them from getting caught up in gun violence following a unanimous vote Tuesday by Mayor Steinberg and members of the Sacramento City Council.
The City will grant $3 million to non-profit groups that will work with at-risk 12- to 17-year-olds to prevent them from becoming either the victims or perpetrators of gun violence.
Half of the money come from a California Violence and Prevention Grant from the Board of State and Community Corrections. The other half will come from the City’s general fund over a three-year period.
The money will go to Sierra Health Foundation, which will work with Advance Peace Sacramento and Another Choice Another Chance to expand the community’s Youth Peacemaker Fellowship Program. Initially established in 2018, the program serves young people involved in gangs with the goal of ending cyclical and retaliatory gun violence in Sacramento. The number of shootings in Sacramento and other cities has risen since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, which shut in-person learning and disrupted mentoring efforts.
The additional funding will allow the City to offer services to 60 high-risk youth, including 33 months of intensive case management with culturally responsive counseling, internships, transformative excursions, life action plans and intergenerational mentoring.
Tuesday’s vote follows a vote by the Council in July to use $1.25 in federal CARES Act stimulus money and $750,000 in City gang prevention funds to continue the Healing the Hood program run by the Black Child Legacy campaign, which provides community violence intervention and prevention services along with empowerment programs to young people, families and community members.
