Building Partnerships of Peace and Community Well-Being

About the ONS
The Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS) was formed in October 2007 to build partnerships and support initiatives that create greater neighborhood and community well-being.

ONS works to develop, facilitate and sustain human/social benefit resources and service delivery on behalf of the City’s most disconnected and vulnerable populations with an emphasis on youth violence prevention and intervention.

Key Aims of Our Work (partial list)

• Strengthen the City’s interdepartmental and cross-jurisdictional coordination towards reducing and preventing (gun) violence and creating greater neighborhood and community well-being.
• Develop, implement, monitor and evaluate service delivery systems and opportunities that provide a continuum of support for disconnected/vulnerable populations, with an initial focus on youth, young adults and families who are most impacted by (gun) violence.
• Partner with community/faith-based leadership and organizations to implement innovative evidence based best practices that reduce and prevent (gun) violence and facilitates greater neighborhood and community and well-being.
• Pursue opportunities to leverage and build upon the City’s existing human, financial and technical resources.  Pursue local, state, federal and philanthropic opportunities to support the City’s efforts to produce long-term sustained reductions in (gun) violence.

Violence Comes at a High Price

• Each homicide is expected to cost society $17 million -damaged property, medical care, lost wages, pain/suffering of victim (DeLisi, et. al., 2010)
• Each crime-related gunshot wound is estimated to cost cities $1 million (Cook, et. al., 2001)
• The average cost of all gunshot injuries to a hospital are $40,000 per patient (CJC research)
• High school graduation is a strong protective factor against violent involvement. Homicide victimization rates 1 .5x higher for male HS dropouts. Cost to society of a dropout is $400,000 (lost wages/productivity) (Cohen, 2000)
• Saving one 14-year-old from a life of crime can avoid future costs of between $2.6 and $5.3 million (Cohen, 1998)

Office of Neighborhood Safety Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ'S)

Director:
DeVone L. Boggan
(510) 620-5422