This Californian Is Working to Reduce Gun Violence

How effective has this been at reducing violence?

We started in Richmond in the mid-2000s. And when we got there, there were nearly 50 firearm-related homicides a year and nearly 300 firearm-related incidents where there was an injury. In 2022, Richmond had 50 shootings with an injury. And just 14 firearm homicides.

That’s how you know it’s working, because that’s the trajectory in every one of the cities — the number of shootings plummets. Once you start working with those individuals who are at the center of all of that stuff.

How many California cities are you working in now?

Our first two cities outside of Richmond were Sacramento and Stockton. Then we moved on to Fresno, Woodland, Vallejo, Antioch and Pomona. Vallejo, Antioch and Pomona are just getting their legs, so we’re just really getting them up and running. We have also worked in Salinas and San Francisco.

And then outside of California, there is Fort Worth, Texas; Rochester, N.Y.; Lansing, Mich.; and Orlando, Fla. We’re looking at Portland and Milwaukee in 2023.

So you tend to work in midsize cities with outsize gun problems. How many people are actually driving that violence?

I’m going to tell you, man, I’ve found myself blown away by four things. One, it’s a small group of people generally responsible for most of the gun violence in the city. It’s not 200 people, it’s a handful of guys. Two, that small group of people are rarely going to be indicted or prosecuted for their gun crimes.

Three, most of these guys aren’t being served, supported, engaged or given attention by any public system or community-based system of care. They’re invisible. Then finally, most community and public systems of care don’t have the capacity to do anything with this population.