School violence prevention program in Oakland could be cut due to budget issues

By Amanda Hari

Concerns about violence on school campuses have been front of mind after a student was shot at an Oakland high school on Nov. 12. But one of the main programs set up to reduce violence could come to an end after the spring semester because of budget cuts.

For more than 30 years, Youth Alive! has been working to break the cycle of violence in Oakland. More recently, they’ve been meeting the kids where they’re at, in school.

“If we want these young people to take steps towards non-violence and peace, we have to walk with them that way,” said executive director Joe Griffin.

Griffin has been the executive Director of Youth Alive! for three years, but he first worked with the nonprofit 16 years ago, running an after-school program at Oakland High School.

“That’s where the relationships are made, for many of the young people that I worked with we kept working with them even after I stopped working at Oakland High,” said Griffin.

Griffin explained that they often build lifelong relationships to help keep people alive and safe. Since 2022, Youth Alive has been even more involved in the Oakland Unified School District, partnering with them on school violence and intervention programs. They were on campus Wednesday after a shooting at Skyline High School.

“For us, last week, we were definitely a part of that community,” Griffin said, remembering the shooting. “We felt it, personally here, but it was that next day. How we keep showing up for our young people because we know they’re feeling at an even more personal and deeper level. It was our role to be there as the adults they can lean on and get support from in the moments that they needed us.”

They offer three types of programs at Skyline, a peer violence education program, violence interruption, and working with young people who are exposed to violence. But as OUSD works to cut $100 million from its budget, Youth Alive! is not expected to get funding for the ’26-’27 school year.

“Just to be clear, everyone wants us there,” Griffith said.

Griffin explained that it includes his employees, the students, and even OUSD.

“Oakland Unified School District deeply values the partnership and impact of Youth Alive! in supporting the safety and wellbeing of our students,” said Nelson Alegria, Executive Director of Safety for OUSD. “The City of Oakland Department of Violence Prevention is currently funding the Violence Intervention and Prevention Program until the end of the school year at many high schools. Skyline was not part of the schools originally identified by the Department of Violence Prevention. In order to provide Skyline access to these services, OUSD funded Youth Alive! at Skyline separate from that grant through a contract with the City of Oakland Department of Violence Prevention.”

“OUSD is planning to absorb aspects of the violence prevention work and the details are being worked out,” Alegria continued. “Our goal is to maintain continuity of support while aligning resources across the District. As we plan for next year, we are actively exploring ways to continue implementing the services provided by the Violence Intervention and Prevention Program across our school sites to ensure students have access to the valuable services they provide.”

Griffin is being proactive and focusing on community programs that can still reach the students outside of school, but he’s not giving up all hope yet. He’s looking for more funding.

“We have a little bit of time, not a lot of bit of time, but with the time we have we need to figure out who is the partner at the table we need to make sure that these programs can sustain,” said Griffin.