{"id":314738,"date":"2026-05-14T02:56:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T02:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/314738\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T02:56:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T02:56:16","slug":"sacramento-council-restores-youth-violence-prevention-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/314738\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacramento council restores youth violence prevention funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sacramento City Council restored funding to a youth violence prevention grant and vowed to keep pools open after residents denounced cutting services to plug a $66 million budget deficit.<\/p>\n

A unanimous vote allocated $1.3 million for the gang prevention and intervention taskforce grant; $100,000 for four wading pools proposed to shutter; and $500,000 for ten neighborhood pools to stay functioning five days a week.<\/p>\n

The revived $1.3 million helps families and children at-risk for gang violence through education, training, and employment programs. But a separate $800,000 grant \u2014 providing around-the-clock response to \u201ccritical incidents\u201d \u2014 remained in limbo.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Lisa Kaplan noted the city relied heavily on these services to help bring Sacramento\u2019s violence to record lows. Communities are not safe without the work done in the $800,000 grant, said Paris Dye, the executive director of youth organization Impact Sac.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city should be proud of the work that we\u2019re doing instead of making us come back and beg for funds,\u201d Dye said.<\/p>\n

To pay for the funding restorations, the City Council approved cutting vacant parking enforcement officer positions, on the same day officials authorized hiking parking violation fines.<\/a> Some money related to homelessness planned for 2028 was reallocated to this year.<\/p>\n

Nonprofits like Brother to Brother Mentoring and Helping our People Eat, which directly intervene with incidents of youth gun violence on the street, each face a $225,000 loss of funding.<\/p>\n

A dozen teenage members of Impact Sac waited nearly four hours Tuesday night to thank the council for listening to their advocacy and saving the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s kids out there that do things because they don\u2019t have a way to express themselves in a way that they need,\u201d said Ayriana Saechao, 16. \u201cSo they end up fighting or doing drugs \u2026 And honestly I think that funding these programs is an amazing way to keep this generation from deteriorating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kaylee Kaylee Bullard, 17, a member of Impact Sac, listens during the Sacramento City Council during a discussion of budget cuts on Tuesday. JOS\u00c9 LUIS VILLEGAS jvillegas@sacbee.com Job cuts loom<\/p>\n

City Hall for two consecutive years folded vacancies and hiked fees to help to bridge a shortfall. The repeated cost-saving measures left little room this year for cuts, and the prospect of layoffs has loomed for many city employees.<\/p>\n

City Manager Maraskeshia Smith has proposed layoffs or demotions for park maintenance workers, who union officials say are among the lowest paid employees. Nearly 100 job vacancies could also close.<\/p>\n

Twenty-six park maintenance workers could still be handed a pink slip or move into another vacant role, though the council earlier intervened to reduce how many people could be cut.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome are new parents,\u201d said Councilmember Lisa Kaplan, who sought to save their jobs. \u201cSome have been with the city for a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sacramento Sacramento City Councilmember Lisa Kaplan listens during a meeting about budget cuts on Tuesday. JOS\u00c9 LUIS VILLEGAS jvillegas@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

Some council members implored city staff to find funding for a program called summer at City Hall. One hundred high school students for six weeks learn about their local government for school credit and a $500 stipend.<\/p>\n

Sacramento\u2019s budget woes stem from revenues outpacing expenses. The budget is pressured by increased homelessness spending, higher labor costs, inflation and retirement liabilities, Finance Director Pete Coletto has said.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published May 13, 2026 at 6:00 AM.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Ishani Desai<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Ishani Desai is a government watchdog reporter for The Sacramento Bee. She previously covered crime and courts for The Bakersfield Californian.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sacramento City Council restored funding to a youth violence prevention grant and vowed to keep pools open…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-314738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}