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Agenda Item
S5.3 26-0749 Subject: Community Violence Intervention Grants 2026-2029
From: Department Of Violence Prevention
Recommendation: Adopt A Resolution (1) Awarding Grants To Twenty-One Community-Based Organizations For Community Violence Intervention Services Set Forth In Tables 1 And 2 For The Period Of October 1, 2026, To September 30, 2029, In A Total Amount Not To Exceed Thirty-Eight Million One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($38,100,000); And (2) Authorizing The City Administrator To Negotiate And Enter Into Grant Agreements With The Named Grantees With Authority To Extend The Terms Of The Grant And Modify The Grant Amounts As Set Forth Herein
Today, the DVP funds the network of legal services survivors need, providing more than 600 people through the network of services provided by Family Violence Law Center, Bay Area Legal Aid, and Justice At Last, including the help FVLC provides for more than 500 people seeking civil restraining orders. This funding round, the DVP allowed applicants to submit with only one subgrantee. As a result, FVLC, Bay Legal, and JAL could not apply together as a network of services.
The DVP only recommends funding Bay Legal to serve 100 people. This will reduce the number of survivors receiving legal services by 500 and eliminate funding for the bulk of the restraining order assistance, including jeopardizing FVLC’s ability to provide Spanish speaking, culturally responsive legal services for Latinx and Mayan immigrants.
These cuts to legal services eliminate an essential piece of Oakland’s safety net and prevent survivors from receiving one of the services they most frequently request. It’s like funding the general practitioner without funding the emergency room.
We ask the City Council to request the DVP to restore funding for legal services for domestic violence and trafficking survivors and restore funding for culturally responsive services for one of Oakland’s largest populations of survivors.
The immigrant community is under severe stress currently due to the fears of ICE showing up at any time. Unfortunately that stress exacerabates family violence and also makes it less likely for victims to report abuse to the police. The DVP leadership and the City Council have expressed a commitment to supporting culturally responsive services for immigrants. Yet frustratingly. the only culturally relevant organization providing domestic violence prevention and intervention services for Latina and Maya Mam immigrant women in Oakland, Mujeres Unidas y Activas (MUA), was completely cut out of these recommendations. The supplemental report provided to the City Council by DVP staff shows that MUA's proposal exceeded the threshold for consideration for renewal. However, the proposal will not receive any funding. It's too bad that the city is not backing up its commitment with substantive action in support of a highly vulnerable immigrant community.
Today, the DVP funds the network of legal services survivors need, providing more than 600 people through the network of services provided by Family Violence Law Center, Bay Area Legal Aid, and Justice At Last, including the help FVLC provides for more than 500 people seeking civil restraining orders. This funding round, the DVP allowed applicants to submit with only one subgrantee. As a result, FVLC, Bay Legal, and JAL could not apply together as a network of services.
The DVP only recommends funding Bay Legal to serve 100 people. This will reduce the number of survivors receiving legal services by 500 and eliminate funding for the bulk of the restraining order assistance, including jeopardizing FVLC’s ability to provide Spanish speaking, culturally responsive legal services for Latinx and Mayan immigrants.
These cuts to legal services eliminate an essential piece of Oakland’s safety net and prevent survivors from receiving one of the services they most frequently request. It’s like funding the general practitioner without funding the emergency room.
We ask the City Council to request the DVP to restore funding for legal services for domestic violence and trafficking survivors and restore funding for culturally responsive services for one of Oakland’s largest populations of survivors.
The immigrant community is under severe stress currently due to the fears of ICE showing up at any time. Unfortunately that stress exacerabates family violence and also makes it less likely for victims to report abuse to the police. The DVP leadership and the City Council have expressed a commitment to supporting culturally responsive services for immigrants. Yet frustratingly. the only culturally relevant organization providing domestic violence prevention and intervention services for Latina and Maya Mam immigrant women in Oakland, Mujeres Unidas y Activas (MUA), was completely cut out of these recommendations. The supplemental report provided to the City Council by DVP staff shows that MUA's proposal exceeded the threshold for consideration for renewal. However, the proposal will not receive any funding. It's too bad that the city is not backing up its commitment with substantive action in support of a highly vulnerable immigrant community.