3 20-0782 Subject: Violence Prevention Services Spending Plan
From: Department OF Violence Prevention
Recommendation: Adopt A Resolution Approving The City's (1) Violence Prevention Program Strategies And (2) Funding Priorities For Programs Funded By The 2014 Oakland Public Safety And Services Violence Prevention Act (Safety And Services Act) For July 2021 Through The End Of The Safety And Services Act Funding Period (December 2024)
Family Violence Law Center has sent a letter to all city council members detailing our objections to this spending plan. The City of Oakland’s Department of Violence’s spending plan decreases by one-third Oakland’s currently underfunded response to gender-based violence and uses those funds for an experimental place-based approach to addressing gender-based violence that Oakland’s gender-based violence experts believe will be ineffective and dangerous. We request that the entire $1,250,000 allocated for gender-based violence in this spending plan be placed in the DVP Shared Services, Gender-based Violence Specific Services category.
If the Department of Violence wants to include gender-based violence-focused staff inside of geographically specific teams this experiment needs to be designed with deference to gender-based violence experts, using funding raised in addition to Measure Z dollars. Additionally, this experiment should not be conducted at the expense of life-saving response services during a time of increased rates of gender-based violence.
Between March 16, 2020 and June 30, 2020, Family Violence Law Center served 37% more clients overall, 10% more Mobile Response Team clients, and 4% more legal clients than in the same period last year. Between July and September 2020, calls to our Mobile Response Team were up 30% compared to last year.
Family Violence Law Center has sent a letter to all city council members detailing our objections to this spending plan. The City of Oakland’s Department of Violence’s spending plan decreases by one-third Oakland’s currently underfunded response to gender-based violence and uses those funds for an experimental place-based approach to addressing gender-based violence that Oakland’s gender-based violence experts believe will be ineffective and dangerous. We request that the entire $1,250,000 allocated for gender-based violence in this spending plan be placed in the DVP Shared Services, Gender-based Violence Specific Services category.
If the Department of Violence wants to include gender-based violence-focused staff inside of geographically specific teams this experiment needs to be designed with deference to gender-based violence experts, using funding raised in addition to Measure Z dollars. Additionally, this experiment should not be conducted at the expense of life-saving response services during a time of increased rates of gender-based violence.
Between March 16, 2020 and June 30, 2020, Family Violence Law Center served 37% more clients overall, 10% more Mobile Response Team clients, and 4% more legal clients than in the same period last year. Between July and September 2020, calls to our Mobile Response Team were up 30% compared to last year.