In Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan, Oakland, California is held up as a city that has enjoyed significant success in reducing violence. In 2019, the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence published a report entitled A Case Study in Hope: Lessons from Oakland’s Remarkable Reduction in Violence. Between 2012-2019 shootings and homicides were down by almost 50%.
Oakland, like many cities, has seen an increase in violence since 2019, but given its prominence in the thinking of the Mayor and others who are working to reduce violence in our city, it would be helpful to examine what Oakland did to achieve that dramatic reduction, at least for a 7-year period, and to see if there are lessons to be learned for Baltimore.
Tom's guest is Erica Ford. She co-chaired the Black and Brown Gun Violence Prevention Consortium, one of the co-sponsors of the Oakland report. She is also the CEO And Co-Founder of Life Camp Inc., a peacemaking organization in New York.
Erica Ford joins us on Zoom from Queens, New York.
