Politics

Amid rising violence, San Francisco initiative will pay residents ‘at high risk of shooting someone’ not to pull the trigger

by on

More in Politics:

A new program in San Fransisco will pay people at high risk of shooting someone not to pull the trigger to help alleviate rising gun violence in the city.

The Dream Keeper Fellowship is set to launch in October and pay 10 individuals $300 each month to not be involved in shootings, The San Francisco Examiner reported. Participants will also be able to earn an additional $200 more per month by hitting program milestones, including landing job interviews AND meeting with mentors and complying with probation. It pairs them with life coaches from the city’s Street Violence Intervention Program, as well.

The fellowship is being rolled out by the Human Rights Commission and Office of Economic and Workforce Development and is funded through the Dream Keeper Initiative, which is San Francisco’s program that works to redirect funding into the Black community. It will launch in October. 

“It’s not necessarily as cut and dry as folks may think. It’s not as transactional as, ‘Here’s a few dollars so that you don’t do something bad,’ but it really is about how you help us improve public safety in the neighborhood,” Davis added. Participants of the program will be paired with life coaches from the city’s Street Violence Intervention Program and will serve as “community ambassadors.”

Participants are also eligible to receive an additional $200 per month through ways such as, working, going to school or being a mediator in potentially violent situations. Payments are made in the form of gift cards and will be monitored, the San Francisco Examiner reported. “As you become better, your community benefits from that,” Davis said.

Mayor London Breed previously spoke approvingly of the idea as one that could cut down on violence in the city. “My desire is to get to them, not to just make an arrest, but to get to them and to try and figure out if they would be willing to work with us on something that is an alternative,” Breed said at a Violence Prevention Summit hosted by the Human Rights Commission in August. “We can’t just put them in a program without making sure that they have money, without making sure that they have something to take care of themselves.”

ARTICLE: PAUL MURDOCH

MANAGING EDITOR: CARSON CHOATE
PHOTO CREDITS: POST MILLENNIAL

The following two tabs change content below.

Paul Murdoch

Paul, 37, is from Scotland in the UK, but currently lives and works in Bangkok. Paul has worked in different industries such as telemarketing, retail, hospitality, farming, insurance, and teaching, where he works now. He teaches at an all-girls High School in Bangkok. “It’s a lot of work, but I love my job.” Paul has an active interest in politics. His reason for writing for FBA is to offer people the facts and allow them to make up their own minds. Whilst he believes opinion columns have their place, it is also important that people can have accurate news with no bias.

Paul, 37, is from Scotland in the UK, but currently lives and works in Bangkok. Paul has worked in different industries such as telemarketing, retail, hospitality, farming, insurance, and teaching, where he works now. He teaches at an all-girls High School in Bangkok. “It’s a lot of work, but I love my job.” Paul has an active interest in politics. His reason for writing for FBA is to offer people the facts and allow them to make up their own minds. Whilst he believes opinion columns have their place, it is also important that people can have accurate news with no bias.

Leave a Reply