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Youth Alive

We are Oakland’s community-based violence prevention, intervention, and healing agency.

Our Programs

We’re not city government, and we’re not the police. We’re of and by the community, and our wraparound services are always free.

prevention

Stopping Violence Before it Starts

  • Teens on Target

    Teens on Target trains high school students to educate their peers about how to prevent violence, mediate conflicts, and advocate to improve the safety of their own communities to elected officials and the public.

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intervention

Mediating Conflicts and Defusing Tensions

  • Violence Interrupters

    Our guardians of peace delicately navigate tension within our community, extinguishing individual and group conflicts and stopping violence before it starts.

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  • Caught in the Crossfire

    Our Intervention Specialists meet survivors of violence at their hospital bedside and provide practical and logistical services to support healing, discourage retaliation, and return survivors to their communities.

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  • Pathways

    Pathways connects at-promise youth with experienced Intervention Specialists to provide various post-release services, including educational assistance, legal aid, employment support, mentoring, and life skills training.

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healing

Moving Forward on your Journey

  • Khadafy Washington Project

    We serve nearly 100% of families of Oakland homicide victims with financial, emotional, and practical support in the aftermath of losing a loved one to violence.

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  • Counseling Services

    We provide healing-centered individual and group counseling sessions to support individuals impacted by trauma and violence.

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advocacy

Changing policy to change lives

  • Legislative Action

    We use Youth Alive’s 30 years of experience and expertise in addressing violence and serving victims and survivors of crime to develop policy solutions at the local, statewide, and national level that are designed to save lives in Oakland and beyond.

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  • Advocacy for Change

    Youth Alive’s advocacy work is centered around the experiences of our youth, clients, and staff. We create platforms to hear, capture, and share their stories to better inform how policymakers, community leaders, and Youth Alive supporters understand the human impact of violence and the need to prioritize violence prevention, intervention, and healing.

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Our Impact

85%
of Teens on Target students would talk a friend out of carrying a gun.
98%
of Oakland families affected by homicide are reached by YA crisis responders.
100+
violently wounded youth over a 4-year period successfully re-enrolled in school.

News

Youth ALIVE!'s Deputy Director John Torres Represents at White House Roundtable on Preventing Gun Violence in Latino Communities

Youth ALIVE!’s Deputy Director John Torres Represents at White House Roundtable on Preventing Gun Violence in Latino Communities

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Youth Alive Partners with Oakland Ballers to Kick Off Youth Alive Night Aug 30

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Youth Alive welcomes Rafael Vaquerano, MPH back to Board of Directors

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