Oakland Unite 2019-2020 Strategy Evaluation: Shooting and Homicide Response
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Associated Project
Mobilizing Communities to Prevent Violence: Evaluation of Oakland Unite
Prepared for:
City of Oakland
Key Findings
- These programs should consider distributing roles and responsibilities in the shooting and homicide response sub-strategy to ensure that services will continue uninterrupted if key individuals leave or are unavailable.
- They should also engage grantees and system partners as “thought partners” in the design of violence prevention strategies and programming.
- Finally, programs must continue to foster efforts to address the root causes of violence in those communities that are most affected by violence, by strengthening the collaboration between crisis response and programs that focus on adjacent issues like housing, job opportunities, and substance abuse treatment.
Oakland Unite aims to interrupt and prevent violence by administering grants through a diverse set of strategies, which includes shooting and homicide response. Each year, this strategy provides $1.4 million in grants to community-based organizations that in turn offer services to hundreds of individuals. Grantees support two groups affected by gun violence: (1) those who have been the victim of gun violence or serious assault, and (2), those who have lost a loved one to gun violence. Grantees aim to address the immediate needs of shooting victims and their families; provide longer-term supports as the victims recover from injury or loss; and prevent retaliatory violence. This report provides an in-depth analysis of the implementation of four shooting and homicide response programs and the outcomes of participants over the 2016–2019 period. The evaluation’s findings suggest that shooting and homicide response offers needed supports to victims of violence and contributes to reducing re-injury and retaliation following a violent incident. As a single shooting injury can cost the city more than $1 million, the investment in these services has the potential to save the city considerable spending in the long run.
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