Project Safe Neighborhoods - Northern District of California

Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a nationwide commitment to reducing gun crime, links existing local programs together and provides them with necessary tools. PSN 1) takes a hard line against gun criminals, using every available means to create safer neighborhoods; 2) seeks to achieve heightened coordination among federal, state, and local law enforcement; and 3) emphasizes tactical intelligence gathering, more aggressive prosecutions, and enhanced accountability through performance measures. The United States Attorney in each federal judicial district will lead the offensive. The fiscal agent, in coordination with the PSN Task Force, will allocate funds throughout the community.

The California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA), serving as the fiscal agent for the Northern District of California (NDCA), will use the grant to fund enforcement, prevention, and intervention components to combat juvenile delinquency, gang involvement, drugs, and gun violence. CalEMA will support the following initiatives: 1) The San Francisco Police Athletic League will fund safe, structured activities for at-risk children in the neighborhoods of Western Addition, Bayview Hunters Point, and the Mission; 2) The San Francisco Boys and Girls Club will fund activities for youth at risk of gang involvement and gun violence in the neighborhoods of Visitacion Valley and Hunters Point; 3) Tall Ship Academy will provide an Outward Bound-type of program where young women learn sailing, navigation, and other skills while in an intensified academic environment. This program seeks to provide an out-of-any-gang-turf haven for the protection of the at-risk youth; 4) The Alameda County Truancy Program will target truant youth in Alameda County and the city of Oakland who commit much of the serious crimes among their peers in order to return them to school, thereby reducing gun crime in the area; 5) The City Youth Now Program will target delinquent and dependent youth at San Francisco Juvenile Hall. This program focuses on life skills, education, and mentorship programs for ages 13 to 18; 6) Schools of the Sacred Heart will target at-risk youth from the Western Addition in San Francisco and bring these at-risk youth together in their facility to provide a safe haven and constructive alternative to the streets; 7) Watsonville Police Department will coordinate with local and federal law enforcement agencies to target habitual violent gang offenders and coordinate investigations and gang suppression strategies for the area; and 8) African American Art and Culture Complex will target at-risk males and teach life skills, provide mentoring and tutoring programs, mental health assistance, job skill training, life coaching, and field trips geared toward expanding horizons past the finite boundaries of the troubled neighborhoods in which these youth live and operate.

NCA/NCF