YOUTH ALIVE! ANNUAL REPORT 2021 – 2022 Healed People Heal People
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Friends,Dear
On that first day when JD walked into my living room, what got me going was his confidence that things could work out for me. And his patience. Because trauma doesn’t go away all at once. The miracles of healing that Youth ALIVE! intervention specialists, crisis responders, counselors, violence prevention educators and violence interrupters help make possible are slow-moving and labor intensive. You need to dig deep, to find strength you never knew you had. Youth ALIVE! staff like JD know this because they have been there.
To heal is to move toward wholeness. For many victims, an act of violence leaves you shattered, not only in body but in mind. When I was shot in Oakland, at the age of 22, it left me immobile and depressed. There I was, a young dad suddenly not working, who had lost my ability to play professional basketball, which was the work I had been preparing for my whole life. For me, and for so many victims I’ve met since, the person who pulled me up out of my depression was a total stranger. But not for long. Youth ALIVE! Caught in the Crossfire Intervention Specialist JD Rhone is a big man but soft spoken. He has a clean-shaven head, a slight southern drawl and a relaxed, slow way of talking. But if you wait for it, what he says is often very funny, and more often very wise. We’re still friends today.
At first, I was uninterested, but JD kept calling, kept coming back to my house to put more possibilities before me, or just to take me out to lunch to talk. He shared his story with me, of bad decisions and tragic consequences; that sharing was life-changing for me. JD opened me back up to the possibilities of life. That was the start of the grown Paris Davis. I went back to school, got a master’s degree, came to work at Youth ALIVE!, in our program that supports families of homicide victims.
YouthParisSincerely,DavisALIVE! Intervention Director
In our community, where pain is so deeply rooted, so constantly fed by violence and racism, sometimes healing means transcending suffering and putting purpose to your pain. Every Youth ALIVE! program is about healing. Yes, violence leads to more violence. But healing is possible, and healing breeds more healing. That is the story of our staff, our agency, and of the victims we’ve worked with in our 31 years in Oakland. Helping others has helped me heal. I love this work. Just being around all these community leaders at Youth ALIVE!, to hear their perspectives and life journeys, has been huge. Today, my daughter is being raised in this community. When I go home each day, I’m grateful. People heal through action, we heal when we are heard, we heal when we find others in this world who genuinely care about our wellbeing and our future. You are a crucial part of that action, of that listening, of that healing. Thank you
I remember one of my first families, a man with a pregnant wife and two children was killed in a drive-by, in a case of mistaken identity. I tried to channel JD. I tried to be patient, to listen. I tried not to get overwhelmed by the tragedy.
$5K covers one month of bilingual case management for ten recently shot or incarcerated youth. $25K covers the cost to help fifteen grieving families bury a loved one after the state denies their appeal.
DONATION IMPACT 2021 EXPENSES $4,242,275 Programs & Services $3,468,995 (82%) Administration & Fundraising $773,280 (18%) 82% 18% 2021 INCOME $4,904,746 Contracts $3,230,997 (66%) Foundation Grants $664,970 (14%) Earned Income $534,492 (11%) Individual Giving $346,345 (7%) Corporate Contributions $127,943 (3%) 66% 14%7% 11%
$1K covers a school year’s worth of stipends for a TNT youth leader to complete training, speak at public events, and teach a series of workshops on gang, gun, family and dating violence.
HEALED PEOPLE HEAL PEOPLE | 3 82% Youth ALIVE! accepts donations by mail or online. We welcome one-time gifts or monthly recurring donations. Please also consider creating a legacy of healing—and hope—by remembering us in your estate planning and becoming a founding member of our Legacy of Healing Circle. Find out more at YouthALIVE.org or email lgreenberg@youthalive.org.
$500 allows our team to arrange an emergency hotel stay while we work to relocate a family who was shot inside, or in front of, their home.
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MARYANN ALVARADO, PROGRAM MANAGER
PREVENTION
Princess, TNT Youth Leader ”
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TNT Youth Leaders
I do this work because: I know what it feels like not to have a mentor, or a space to express yourself in your teens. I experienced trauma and violence throughout my life, but I didn’t know healing was a “thing.” Now I’m focused on lifting up our youth up so they can learn they can heal, and that they’re part of the solution. I want to be who I needed, who I never had at their age. To me, healing means: My past trauma can’t break me. It means that I can be in the same room with the person who harmed me and not feel the need to seek revenge. What healing looks like in our work: We had a youth leader who really struggled with the pandemic, with being at home all day in an environment that wasn’t supportive. Their grades started to drop. They considered dropping out of school. They started having suicidal thoughts. I helped them try different ways to get through all this. I kept in communication every day. After many phone calls, texts, and lunches, I invited this TNT youth leader to present a violence prevention workshop at an Oakland middle school. They turned out to be a great speaker, and powerful. This student saw that, in TNT, they had a purpose and that middle school students gravitated toward them, that they were a role model. They started to feel more confident, to trust themselves. They came out of a dark place, better than they were before.
TNT helped me a lot. I was stuck in a dark place where I felt like I couldn’t talk to anybody. Having mentors helped shift and open up my world view. I learned how to handle my emotions and advocate for myself. Before TNT, my defense mechanism was getting into trouble and fi ghting with people. I never thought I would graduate high school. Because of TNT, I became a more social person and grew as a leader. I was elected class president and became a peer mentor to help other students work through what they were going through.
In the 2021-22 school year, TNT:
» Presented 84 violence prevention workshops in 13 OUSD middle schools. After the workshops, middle school students reported being: o 2.9 times more likely to believe a person is safer without a gun than with one o 2.7 times more likely to talk a friend out of carrying a gun o 98% know where to go for help when someone is being abused
In the 2021-22 school year, TNT Youth Leaders:
Castlemont Graduation TNT Youth Leaders & Staff
We are thrilled to announce that we will be introducing Teens on Target to the campus of Skyline High School in the 2022–23 school year!
Like the youth who founded Teens on Target back in 1989, today’s TNT youth leaders are a force for change and healing. At TNT, they learn how to identify when violence threatens—on the street, at home, in relationships. They learn to talk about violence and how to prevent it. They share what they have learned with their peers; this year they delivered 84 comprehensive violence prevention workshops at 13 Oakland middle schools. They also entered the fray, speaking at rallies, addressing policymakers and the media directly. 24 TNT youth leaders graduated this year! There is healing in belonging. There is healing in personal growth. And there is healing in discovering the power within yourself.
» Trained 59 youth leaders at Castlemont and Fremont High Schools in East Oakland, of whom 50% resolved a conflict that would have led to violence
» Provided 1,075 hours of one-to-one mentoring to youth, leading to a 100% decrease in youth believing they need to fight someone who disrespects them
Our Advocacy for Change program is dedicated to addressing public policies that affect our clients and community. Our aim is to hear the voices of those affected by violence ringing out, speaking truth to power. See Pages 8 & 9 for recent highlights of our policy work Teens on Target Advocacy for Change
» Participated in 42 community engagements, resulting in a 45% increase in youth leaders who now feel comfortable with public speaking. These engagements included meeting with legislators, policy forums, rallies, and media interviews.
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Rep. Barbara Lee on a visit to Youth ALIVE!
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I do this work because: I want to contribute to Oakland’s healing and transformation, starting with our youth and young adults. I have outlived many of my Ghost Town peers by surviving layered trauma and brokenness. I want to be part of the healing and revitalization in West Oakland. To me, healing means: Learning how to replace resentments with forgiveness. Healing means the rebuilding of lives shattered by trauma. What healing looks like in our work: I am working with a young man who was referred to us through the Midnight Basketball League. Family and institutions had given up on him. He loved his mom, but they had a volatile relationship. He was slow to accept our help, but I persisted. I checked in on him, including home visits when I hadn’t heard from him. His commitment grew to where, when his phone was broken, he found our office email and got a message to me. One day he handed me a piece of paper. It congratulated him on completing all his credits and said he would receive his high school diploma early. He was so proud, said he wanted to surprise me with the news. I felt like a big sister. I feel very optimistic for him. He is starting college this fall.
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TheYOUTHALIVE.ORGaftermathofviolence is a lonely place. But when Caught in the Crossfire (CiC) intervention specialists show up at your hospital bedside, you are no longer alone. The relationships intervention specialists build with each client are the foundation of our healing work. Assistance in practical matters like applying for financial compensation, making medical appointments, finding safe housing, or simply getting groceries, creates space for healing. You feel your future coming into focus. Despair at your predicament is replaced by hope.
In 2021, as violence continued to surge, CiC reported: 265 victims served 151 received short-term crisis response services 111 received assisted in obtaining victim compensation 104 received ongoing case management 2% of clients were re-hospitalized (studies have shown that up to 44% of gunshot victims will be shot again)
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ANDREA PIAZZA, INTERVENTION SPECIALIST
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Caught in the Crossfire INTERVENTION
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In 2021, Pathways: » Mentored 37 youth » Helped 10 youth re-enroll in school
ViolencePathwaysInterrupters
TONYIA “NINA” CARTER, SENIOR VIOLENCE INTERRUPTER
HEALED PEOPLE HEAL PEOPLE | 7
» Resolved 132 (93%) of these conflicts directly, and resolved another 9 conflicts by relaying messages between parties
» Supported 14 youth to get a job
To me, healing involves: Identifying the root cause of an issue, then being able to work through it. Working through the issue looks like finding that void, then assessing what it is going to take to fill it.
» Relocated 36 families in danger Violence Interrupter Team Pathways Intervention Specialist Miguel Avila with a graduate Violence Interrupter Nina Carter doing outreach in East Oakland ViolenceCarlaInterrupterAshford
In 2021, Youth ALIVE! Violence Interrupters:
Intervention Specialists in our Pathways program mentor youth emerging from Juvenile Hall or in danger of violence. Pathways staff say that sometimes, the teenagers they work with are already resigned to death; they joke about it, make predictions on when—and how. They talk about the friends they have already lost. But there’s a shift when they begin to develop a relationship with one of our Intervention Specialists. Having an adult who cares, who shows up, who does what they said they would do, brings healing.
» Assessed the safety of 101 shooting victims at their hospital bedsides
Youth ALIVE! Violence Interrupters are genius problem solvers where the stakes are life and death. They work within the communities where they have lived and where they retain influence and deep connections. They find ways to reduce tensions and mediate group and individual conflicts that threaten to become violent. They heal community trauma.
What healing looks like in our work: Sometimes community healing means breaking the cycle of violence before things erupt. Last spring, I got a call from a community leader. A kid got jumped at school, his phone was stolen. His family was active in the street life and prone to retaliation. The victim’s cousins found the perpetrators and jumped them. I was worried that the adults would get involved, and it would escalate to guns and bloodshed. That’s how it works. We needed to mediate it at the kid level, before the adults got involved. I knew the families, so I called the moms and we brought them and the boys together to get to the root of the conflict, which turned out to be a girl. Getting to the root allowed the boys to calm down and realize none of this violence was needed.
» Mediated 141 conflicts
I do this work because: I want to give people what I didn’t have in my youth: someone who sees them for who they are, who meets them where they are, who sees their positive attributes and talents and shows them positive ways to use them. Because no one “saw” me or my abilities, at one point in time I became part of the problem. I used my skills to live a reckless lifestyle. Therefore, “I owe what I know.”
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Through our Advocacy for Change program, those affected by violence turn their passion and painful experiences into positive change for the future of their community.
Recently, Advocacy for Change contributed to two historic victories that mark a shift in how policymakers view our Community Violence Intervention (CVI) work as an essential part of how we create community safety:
California Makes Largest Investment in CVI that any state ever has: In May 2021, advocates from around the state met with Governor Newsom to make the case for community violence intervention programs. Youth ALIVE!’s Policy and Advocacy Director closed the meeting by sharing the impact violence had on Oakland throughout the pandemic. Shortly after this meeting, the Governor proposed the largest single investment any state has ever made in violence prevention programs: over $200 million. When survivors stand up to the social forces that wounded them and tell their stories directly to those in power, trauma’s grip begins to weaken.
Our Policy and Advocacy Director Gabriel Garcia, alongside clients, Teens on Target youth leaders, and our program staff, engages elected officials on the need for greater investments in community violence prevention and intervention programs. Our staff and clients have been at the forefront of multiple policy efforts focused on making California safer and more responsive to the needs of victims and survivors of violent crime.
The State of California Agrees to Fund Violence Prevention Services Through Medi-Cal: After months of meeting with the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) about the importance of responding to violence as the public health crisis it is, DHCS announced a proposal to fund violence prevention services through Medi-Cal by categorizing Violence Prevention Professionals like those at Youth ALIVE! as Community Health Workers.
The Impact of Youth ALIVE!’s Advocacy for Change Program Power, Purpose & Healing
Trauma is a powerful affliction. It can make victims of violence feel powerless over their thoughts, feelings, or behaviors. But often, as survivors’ bodies heal, a passion begins to swell. It’s a passion to create change and fight back against the social forces that wounded them. When survivors stand up to those forces and tell their stories directly to those in power, trauma’s grip begins to weaken.
Our Advocacy for Change Program seeks to break down systemic barriers to care, to increase funding for violence prevention and intervention services at the local, state, and federal level, to embed justice and a stronger understanding of trauma in our laws, and to reduce violence and save lives.
Staff & clients visit with Rep. Barbara Lee Program Specialist Kesse Taylor-Jenkins after addressing a candlelight vigil with former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords
Oakland City Council Creates Vehicle Impound Fund for Victims:
YA! Clients Are Major Contributors to Oakland’s Reimagining Public Safety Task Force: We held listening sessions with clients and youth to understand their visions for public safety in their city. We then shared their policy recommendations with city councilmembers and other leaders to guide and ground their discussions in the reality of the street.
YA! Staff Testify Before Legislature: The most essential goals of Advocacy for Change are to educate policymakers about our community, to promote solutions that will make our world safer and more just, and to ensure that the voices of victims, clients, youth and staff guide decision-making. In the last legislative session, Program Director Kyndra Simmons, Violence Interrupter Antoine Towers, and Khadafy Washington Project Coordinator Jasmine Hardison spoke on gun safety, ghost guns and funding violence prevention.
A family member is shot while sitting in the family’s only vehicle. The vehicle is impounded by police as evidence and the victim’s family is charged a daily fee for its storage, a fee which accumulates to hundreds if not well over a thousand dollars until they can afford to pay. Meanwhile, they have no transportation to school or work. Informed by our intimate understanding of the challenges victims of violence face, we moved the Oakland City Council to create a special fund to cover the costs of towing and storage for victims of violent crime who have their cars towed for evidence.
YA! Sponsors Bills to Help Families Bury Loved Ones with Dignity: Too many devastated victims, desperate for financial support to recoup lost wages, replace bloody clothing or other ruined personal items, or to pay for a decent funeral for a murdered loved one, are denied State victim compensation for arbitrary reasons. Though none have yet passed, we continue to sponsor bills each legislative session aimed at reforming the California Victim Compensation Program and expanding access to this vital healing support to victims. We will not give up.
HEALED PEOPLE HEAL PEOPLE | 9
YA! Clients, Survivors of Violence, Meet and Address Rep Barbara Lee: On National Gun Violence Awareness Day, Youth ALIVE! clients met with Congresswoman Barbara Lee at our offices to share their experiences recovering from the trauma of gunshot wounds and continuing to live day-to-day in the very neighborhoods where they were attacked. They discussed why her efforts to bring federal funding to community violence prevention programs were so crucial to the Oakland community.
YA! Staff Address City Leaders: In collaboration with partners like Broken by Violence and Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, we created in-person events where our survivors and staff could engage directly with Mayor Libby Schaaf, City Councilmember Treva Reid, State Assemblymember Mia Bonta, and the candidates running for Alameda County District Attorney. The direct exchanges among survivors, staff and policymakers—of stories, real-life examples of unrealized rights to support and healing, and of community ideas for change—were incredibly powerful.
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I do this work because: I’m from Oakland and I care about my community. My mother was 9 months pregnant with me when she came to this country. Growing up in Oakland, I saw the lack of support and resources families like mine faced and I hated it. I saw the hurdles, and obstacles, and the fear to call the police, or to seek help from institutions, and the easy way we were neglected, held back. I grew my passion to be on the right side of justice, to help my community heal, grow and prosper.
HEALING
What healing looks like in our work: I helped support a client recently after the loss of her son. I assisted with funeral planning, connecting the family to the compensation program for funeral and burial expenses, and I attended the service in support of the family. Month after month, I invited this client to participate in our Circle of Care meetings—a safe space for family members of homicide victims to share common experiences and hold space for each other—and month after month, she did not attend. One day, she finally decided to take a chance and join the group. She has not missed one since and has been very active in supporting new mothers of homicide victims.
Youth ALIVE!’S Khadafy Washington Project (KWP) Crisis Responders offer emotional and practical support when you have lost a loved one suddenly to violence. They are a caring, knowledgable presence at a time when your trauma is blinding, when you are vulnerable to exploitation, when you can feel as if there is no future, and that healing is impossible. Continuing the legacy set by program founder Marilyn Washington Harris, our Crisis Responders understand it can be difficult to function after a tragic loss, to take care of life’s business, and death’s business. In the earliest hours of your deepest sorrow, they are symbols that love and kindness still exist in our city. They help open a doorway to healing.
Khadafy Washington Project
To me, healing means: Having the space to process and seek out constructive distractions while also honoring our experiences.
» Helped 135 families with funeral planning
» Supported 135 families to apply for victim compensation
JESSICA SEGURA, KHADAFY WASHINGTON PROJECT COORDINATOR
» Provided 53 families with financial support
In 2021, as Oakland suffered its most homicides in over a decade, KWP crisis responders:
» Reached out to the families of 137 homicide victims
DONATION IMPACT
From Left: Nicky MacCallum, Karla Rodriguez, Angelina Gutierrez, and Jessica Segura.
KWP staff and clients at State Capitol KWP founder Marilyn Washington Harris flanked by crisis responders KWP Project Coordinator Jasmine Hardison with a photo of her son, David
» Connected 93 clients to COVID related support, including assistance with testing and linkages to medical care
In 2021, as new clients came to us traumatized by violence and the economic and social devastation COVID wrought on our community, our Counseling staff:
» Served 97 clients » Provided 948 hours of individual and group mental health services
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I do this work because: Everybody deserves to live a full life despite their circumstances. I really enjoy being a part of my community in a way that is healing, especially for those who otherwise wouldn’t have access to services, such as people who don’t speak English, like some members of my family when they first came to this country.
ANGELINA GUTIERREZ, COUNSELOR
Counseling is about healing and the trauma expertise in our Counseling Services program has informed how all our programs engage with clients. Our bilingual counselors are steeped in a way of thinking about trauma and how it manifests in unique, personal ways; hence the patience, the emphasis on relationship and trust-building, the determination that clients guide their own recovery; the willingness to do whatever it takes to help someone heal. Their mantra: we meet you where you are. You are the expert on you, you define what healing is, and we will help get you there. Early on, we began bringing therapy into the field to help more victims access this healing service.
To me, healing involves: To not necessarily be free of pain, but to be able to move successfully through life despite your own suffering. It also means taking what you have learned to show others a path to healing. What healing looks like in our work: I supported a young man who I first met when he was still in juvenile hall and had just turned 18. He had lost both parents traumatically and had been on his own since he was 15. At Juvi, he was a mentor to other youth, and graduated from high school early. We met once a week. Our best therapy session was at an arcade, where we competed for hours. He spent the last half-hour working the claw machine to get a stuffed animal, successfully! I had never seen him so happy, smiling so big. In our sessions, he was able to talk about things he never had before, difficult things. I helped him learn how to advocate for himself in the health system. Now he has his own place, a new car, and just got a promotion. He’s preparing to go to trade school to become a mechanic.
Counseling Services
Nancy
Paris
Teens
Tonyia (Nina) Carter Senior Violence Interrupter, (East Oakland)
12 | YOUTHALIVE.ORG Andrea Piazza Intervention Specialist, Caught in the Crossfire Angelina Gutierrez Counselor Angie Teal Operations & Human Resources Manager Anne Marks Executive Director Antoine Towers Violence Interrupter Ariel Edwards Crisis Responder, Khadafy Washington Project Carla Ashford Violence Interrupter Carlos Jackson Lead Intervention Specialist, Pathways Doral Myles Citywide Violence Interrupter Eric Adams Lead Violence Interrupter Ernest Ynostrosa Intervention Specialist, Caught in the Crossfire Gabriel Garcia Policy & Advocacy Director Glen Upshaw Violence Interrupter Team Manager Guadalupe Serrano-Lopez Lead Intervention Specialist, Caught in the Crossfire Jackie Quintanilla Finance Manager Jaime Oseguera Violence Interrupter (Central Oakland) James Baldwin Violence Interrupter Jason Williams Program Support Manager Jessica Segura Coordinator, Khadafy Washington Project Jim O’Brien Senior Writer John Torres Associate Director Josh Rogers Violence Prevention Educator, Teens on Target Juan Cortez Senior Violence Interrupter/Latino Liaison Karla Rodriguez Counselor Kesse Taylor-Jenkins Program Specialist Lauren Greenberg Development Manager
MaryAnn
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Sue
Nasir Bari Violence Interrupter
Miguel
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Lizeth Torres Manager/Finance Washington Harris Family Support Liaison, Khadafy Washington Project Alvarado Program Manager, on Target Avila Torres Coordinator Lopez Intervention Specialist, Caught in the Crossfire
Nicky MacCallum Healing Director
Salvador Avalos Violence Interrupter (Central Oakland)
Sasha Long Intervention Specialist, Pathways Danne Finance & Administrative Director
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HEALED PEOPLE HEAL PEOPLE | 13 Angela Jenkins Board President Vice PrismaAccountablePresidentCommunitiesHealth Greenville, SC Rafael Vaquerano Board Vice President Vice President Practice Development and Innovation John Muir Health Walnut Creek Alisa DeWys Board Treasurer GoogleManager San Francisco Stan Weisner Board Secretary Director Emeritus Behavioral Health Sciences Department UC Berkeley Extension Oakland Nadine de Coteau EngagementManager & Partnerships CupertinoApple Michael Munson Operations Manager KTOP-TV10 Oakland Sarah Chavez Yoell Government Relations Local Public Affairs Pacific Gas & Electric Oakland John Bliss President SCI Consulting Group Oakland Tracy Jensen Senior Services Administrator City of OaklandOakland David Muhammad Executive Director National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform Oakland Gilbert Salinas Chief Equity Officer Department of Health Services Contra Costa County Martinez CA Kyndra Simmons Director Frontline Training & Technical Assistance Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (The HAVI Berkeley CA CouncilAdvisoryYouth Princess Paopao Castlemont High School Oakland Xavier Tillery Castlemont High School Oakland Castlemont High School Isaac FernandoAndersonCastaneda Sanaiyah Davis Jalesha Fitzpatrick Jez Monet Floyd Ernesto Galaviz Jamarion Lewis Nivea Mancilla Malik JaylenMayfieldMcGary Princess Paopao Kentavion Pierce Michael Pomeroy Lizbeth Ramirez Maria Ramirez Zaire Robertson Shervel Scott-Wilson Prezett Simon Lanasia Sipp Laila SierraSaneyaStarksStarkTaylor Xavier FranciscoAniyahMylesMelvinFaith-OliviaTilleryTurnerWilliamsWootenWrightZamora Devynn Trahan Corvon Harvey Breece Hutchinson Jerry Gonzalez Carmen Tolento Vianca Velazquez Charlie AngelicaRamirezMonserrat Ramirez Leylanie Navarro Joshua Jones Fremont High School Aaliyah Baker Ariel BreannaEdwinEdwinPeterCarlosBakerChavezCrossEmersonEstradaFelton Edwin Galvan Jon Brian Higareda Kimberly Higareda Susan SergioHillMartin Athziri Ortego Jesus Padilla-Masedonio Ihonny Perez Nia MagaliPooleRamirez Sophia Sanchez Miklo KaliyahIsisSelenaSantiagoSantiagoSmithThomas Ayana Williams Youth Leaders Board of Directors
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Youth ALIVE! | 3300 Elm Street | Oakland, CA 94609 Phone: 510.594.2588 | Email: youthalive.orgmail@youthalive.org
Whereas, Kyndra wore down many high heels in over twenty years of tireless work with victims of violence
Whereas, Kyndra took hundreds of calls in the middle of the night to coordinate urgent support for victims of violence in Oakland Whereas, Kyndra rose from the streets of South Berkeley to become a nationally recognized expert in community violence prevention and trauma-informed support for victims of violence Whereas, Kyndra rose from staffer in the nation’s first hospital-based violence intervention program to become Director of Programs at Youth ALIVE! Whereas, Kyndra has willingly shared her wisdom and expertise to guide and mentor a generation of violence prevention professionals
Whereas, while serving victims, overseeing multiple programs and guiding all intervention work at Youth ALIVE!, Kyndra earned a PhD in Psychology
Honoring Kyndra Simmons, Issued April 28 2022: Whereas, Kyndra Simmons, PhD, has shown more than 20 years of unflagging commitment to the Youth ALIVE! values of Community, Courage, Relentlessness, Innovative Leadership, Diversity and Healing
Whereas, Kyndra did all this while raising three amazing daughters Whereas, while making it clear she did not enjoy public speaking, Kyndra regularly, willingly and eloquently spoke before large audiences, legislative bodies, reporters and many cameras, to champion the rights of communities of color, to safety, healing and peace, the wellbeing of all people, the betterment of the city of Oakland, and the work of her agency
Goodbye Kyndra, Hello Dr. Simmons
After twenty great years at Youth ALIVE!, Kyndra Simmons, our former Program Director and a nationally-recognized pioneer in community violence prevention and intervention, has earned her PhD in Psychology. When did she find the time? Dr. Simmons has transitioned from Youth ALIVE! to the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention, or The HAVI, a national organization founded by Youth ALIVE! to help other communities implement the hospital-based violence intervention program model that Sherman Spears invented here at YA! in the early 1990s. We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Simmons also has joined our Board of Directors. On the occasion of her departure, the Oakland City Council issued a resolution celebrating her years of lifesaving, ground-breaking work in Oakland. Also, we had a party!
Resolution of the Oakland City Council
Resolved: We commend Kyndra for the lives she has changed for the better. We commend Kyndra for her deep commitment to safety, peace, equity, and healing. We commend Kyndra for the example she set every day of tirelessness in pursuit of personal and civic improvement. We commend Kyndra for her taste in shoes. We commend Kyndra for her loud support of all things chocolate, including chocolate shoes. We commend Kyndra for her willingness to share her wisdom and expertise, and to inspire, to guide and to mentor others seeking to make a difference.
Whereas, between 2002 and 2022 Kyndra personally supported hundreds of traumatized victims of violence in Oakland
