Advance Peace up for Fresno City Council vote again. Will it receive money this time?
Months after Fresno’s June budget hearings, the gun violence intervention program Advance Peace is back on the Fresno City Council agenda for potential funding.
But rather than considering whether to give the Fresno Economic Opportunity Commission $950,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding to operate Advance Peace, the Fresno City Council on Thursday will consider a package of contracts that splits $1.5 million of ARPA money and general fund money between more than a dozen community organizations.
The proposed Advance Peace contract calls for the city to provide Fresno EOC with $375,000 to serve young people.
Aaron Foster, program manager for Advance Peace, said he believes the program’s work speaks for itself. Because of the city’s reduced funding commitment, the program will be forced to seek additional funding elsewhere.
“I believe that if we continue to do great work, that this will work itself out,” Foster said.
Advance Peace identifies the city’s most likely shooters and provides services and support to give them reasons to live without the violence. The program has seen success backed by research in other California cities such as Richmond and Stockton.
Earlier this year, Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, City Manager Georgeanne White, and Police Chief Paco Balderrama said they opted not to give Advance Peace money in the proposed budget after considering a number of factors. The top factor was an Advance Peace employee’s arrest during Operation No Fly Zone, a massive multi-agency gang operation. They changed their mind after agreeing to fund the program earlier in the year.
The Fresno City Council in June essentially froze funding for the program and directed the mayor’s administration to work out a deal with Fresno EOC.
Dyer’s administration requested funding proposals for the money, and Fresno EOC applied and was granted the $375,000. The other organizations to potentially receive funding went through the same vetting process.
Where councilmembers stand
Councilmembers Luis Chavez and Mike Karbassi remain undecided about approving the funding, they said.
“I’m going to keep an open mind on the expenditures for this item,” Chavez said. “I do have questions about Advance Peace and the challenges they experienced with a few employees. I’m hopeful they were resolved. Those challenges will dictate whether I support or not support Advance Peace going forward.”
Councilmembers Miguel Arias, Nelson Esparza and Tyler Maxwell are more likely to vote in favor of the funding.
“I’m leaning toward supporting the item,” Esparza said. “The Advance Peace program would be receiving funding for their proposal, along with a number of other organizations. I’ve always supported a multifaceted approach to reducing violent crime in our city, and I think this item is a continued step in that direction.”
Arias said Advance Peace earned the City Council’s support because it’s the only program to demonstrate a direct correlation with reducing gun violence.
“There’s been a lot of misinformation on the Advanced Peace model, but the City Council continues to stand by them because they’re the only organization that we have ever funded that actually has third-party research evidence that demonstrates their effectiveness,” Arias said. “They have set a new standard for being clear about their scope of work, their deliverables and their effectiveness in reducing gun violence in the city. That’s why they continue to gain support of the City Council. No other policing strategy or nonprofit strategy has demonstrated a direct correlation with reduction of gun violence other than Advanced Peace.”
Maxwell said the violence prevention programs complement the council’s vote to add more police officers.
“When it comes to public safety, it’s important that the city of Fresno focus not just on being reactive, but on being proactive as well. We have taken significant steps toward doing so by hiring additional police officers across our city,” Maxwell said. “However, the increase in police officers needs to be supplemented with proactive programs whose sole purpose is to prevent crimes from occurring in the first place.
“I will gladly support the funding for the violence prevention programs this Thursday because they will do just that: reduce crime in our hardest hit neighborhoods by working directly with members of our community,” Maxwell said. “This will not only reduce crime, but save our city money in the long run as well.”
Advance Peace history
Advance Peace got off the ground in Fresno around June 2021 in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Researchers with UC Berkeley found that in the second half of 2021, Advance Peace Fresno’s 17 fellows interrupted 60 imminent gun violence conflicts; responded to 21 shootings to prevent retaliatory violence; and mediated 200 community conflicts that could have escalated to gun violence.
The other contracts on the agenda are for the following organizations: Boys & Girls Club of Fresno County; Every Neighborhood Partnership; Focus Forward; Fresno Police Activities League; HandsOn Central California Street Saints; Hope Now for Youth; Integral Community Solutions Institute; Live Again Fresno; the Resiliency Center; Take a Stand; Trauma Research and and Education Foundation; and West Fresno Family Resource Center.
This story was originally published October 19, 2022 at 5:30 AM.