\t\t\t\t\tWhat’s at stake?<\/p>\n
Violent crime fell to a 50-year low last year, just three years removed from record highs. Now, one of the programs credited with reducing gang and street violence is running out of money. A new plan could keep the lights on in the short term, but a sustainable future remains in limbo.<\/p>\n
An anti-violence program that researchers say played a major role in Fresno\u2019s historic drop in gun violence and murder could get a second life this week at City Hall.<\/p>\n
The future of Advance Peace Fresno has been in doubt since last year when the White House gutted the program\u2019s $2 million federal grant at the height of the Trump Administration\u2019s Musk-DOGE slash-and-burn era<\/a>.<\/p>\n If approved Thursday, the program, which is operated under the umbrella of the Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission, would get a cash injection eventually totaling around $625,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n In an interview on Monday, Program Manager Aaron Foster confirmed the money could keep the lights on until the end of October, which would give the city and the nonprofit a longer runway to find a permanent funding source.<\/p>\n Foster said it was too soon to know exactly how the money would be spent, and most of those questions, he said, depend on how much the nonprofit actually receives.<\/p>\n Never miss the top stories in Fresno \u2014 sign up for our free, daily newsletter.<\/p>\n \u201cWe won\u2019t know for sure until (Thursday) so we\u2019re in limbo now,\u201d Foster told Fresnoland. \u201cIn a perfect world, the city would be able to adopt (the program) as a city resource based on the proof that it works.\u201d<\/p>\n A joint study last year by UC Berkeley and UC Merced credited the program with helping reduce all city gun violence \u2014 both homicides and assaults \u2014 by as much as 46% two years after the program got off the ground.<\/a><\/p>\n The report, quietly released last fall<\/a>, concludes that \u201cAdvance Peace may be an effective strategy to reduce gun violence.\u201d<\/p>\n The program has received plenty of local political support over the years, including, Foster noted, the city\u2019s police chiefs, including now-Mayor Jerry Dyer.<\/p>\n In a statement to Fresnoland on Monday, the mayor doubled down on his support for the program.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Fresno model of Advance Peace continues to be an effective strategy in helping\u00a0to reduce gang related shootings and murders in our city,\u201d Dyer said. \u201cI will continue to prioritize funding for them in my budget.\u201d<\/p>\n Councilmember Miguel Arias, who was one of the program\u2019s earliest supporters, told Fresnoland that the city should keep Advance Peace Fresno running.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be detrimental to walk away from a program that\u2019s been so beneficial to public safety,\u201d Arias said in a telephone interview Monday with Fresnoland.<\/p>\n Arias echoed the conclusions drawn in last year\u2019s UC Berkeley report and noted that homicides in Fresno fell to a historic 50-year low<\/a>, with 22 murders reported in the city last year.<\/p>\n That\u2019s down from consecutive record-breaking years in 2020 and 2021 that reported 74 homicides each year.<\/p>\n