- “The historic reductions in violence across California are the direct result of the expansion of community-based violence and harm prevention and intervention work we’ve seen in the past decade.” – Tinisch Hollins, executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice
SACRAMENTO — Public health and violence prevention experts from across California said this week that historic statewide reductions in violent crime are the result of sustained investments in community-based prevention, intervention and trauma recovery programs, and warned lawmakers that progress could stall without continued funding.
Advocates, including violence prevention practitioners and behavioral health leaders, said California has reached some of its lowest levels of violent crime in decades following expanded investments in community-based strategies over the past 10 years.
“The historic reductions in violence across California are the direct result of the expansion of community-based violence and harm prevention and intervention work we’ve seen in the past decade,” Tinisch Hollins, executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice, said at a Sacramento press conference.
She added, “But even with the progress, state-sanctioned violence is ravaging the lives of many of our friends and neighbors. It’s a chilling reminder of why it remains imperative that we take a balanced approach to safety, one that prioritizes healing and trauma recovery, violence prevention and intervention, and behavioral health.”
Advocates pointed to data showing that California is experiencing historic lows in violent crime. In 2024 and early 2025, the state recorded some of its lowest homicide rates since the 1960s. Preliminary data from the eight most populous cities show a 12.5% decline in violent crime compared with the prior year.
Oakland reported its lowest homicide rate since 1967, Los Angeles its lowest since 1966, and San Francisco its lowest since 1954.
Mike McLively, policy director of the Giffords Center for Violence Intervention and a founder of the CalVIP Coalition, said the results followed a major 2021 investment by Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature in the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Program.
“When the country thinks about public safety, too often, we are only thinking about policing and law enforcement,” McLively said. “And we are here to say that community-based public safety is an essential part of keeping our communities safe. We’re calling on the Legislature this year to increase at least $55 million to CalVIP.”
Janelle Melohn, senior director at the National Alliance of Trauma Recovery Centers, emphasized the role of trauma-informed care in sustaining public safety, warning that California’s 20 trauma recovery centers face funding uncertainty.
“Safety is not achieved by enforcement alone,” Melohn said. “It’s built when we interrupt violence, treat trauma, and stabilize lives. Communities are safer than they’ve been in years, and that didn’t happen by accident. It happened because the state invested in evidence-based solutions that work, including trauma recovery centers or TRCs, which provide intensive survivor-centered care to people harmed by violence who would otherwise fall through the cracks in the system.”
Lanaisha Edwards, a Los Angeles resident and member of Crime Survivors Speak, shared her experience of losing two brothers to community violence and linked Los Angeles’ declining homicide rate to sustained local investments.
“Survivors from communities most impacted by crime and violence want to prevent what happened to us and our families from happening to anyone else and their families,” Edwards said. “Los Angeles is a great example of the strategic investment of community violence intervention.”
Advocates cited investments by both the city of Los Angeles, through the Gang Reduction Youth Development Program, and Los Angeles County, through the Office of Violence Prevention and its Trauma Prevention Initiative within the Department of Public Health.
Fernando Rejón, executive director of the Urban Peace Institute in Los Angeles, said community violence intervention workers play a direct role in improving public safety and saving lives.
“Frontline intervention workers prevent and interrupt the cycles of violence through proactive neighborhood engagement, crisis response, conflict mediation, and case management,” Rejón said. “They do not only save lives, but also ensure public safety for all Californians. Continued investment is essential. We’re calling on the California Legislature and Governor Newsom to add $55 million in supplemental funding for the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Program grant this year.”
Darrell Steinberg, former Sacramento mayor, former assemblymember and president of the Steinberg Institute, said decades of evidence show that treatment, rehabilitation and early intervention produce measurable public safety benefits.
“When you invest in the right kind of treatment, the wraparound model, whatever it takes, and you do it with care and with love and with consistency, the results are unbelievable,” Steinberg said. “Huge reductions in hospitalization, huge reductions in incarceration, huge reductions in arrests. The right kind of treatment works. We need to continue to invest in it.”
Steinberg referenced a study of Californians enrolled in full-service programs funded by Proposition 63, a tax on millionaires dedicated to public mental health services, which found 47% fewer arrests in the 12 months after participants entered the program and a 69% overall reduction in arrests among those who received comprehensive wraparound care.
Advocates are calling on lawmakers to restore flexible cash assistance for survivors so families can cover urgent needs such as funerals, medical care, relocation and transportation without unnecessary barriers.
They are also urging the Legislature to stabilize and expand Trauma Recovery Centers, which provide proven wraparound care for survivors and are facing a statewide funding crisis.
Advocates are seeking funding for free mental health services for all children and young people up to age 21 who are harmed by or witness gun violence, arguing that a child who has seen bullets should not have to fight for access to therapy.
The CalVIP Coalition is calling on the California Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom to add $55 million in supplemental funding for the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Program this year.
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