PORTLAND, Ore. — The city of Portland has picked two community organizations — Going Home II and 3VRY3DAY GRIND — to work with "high-risk youth" and manage gun violence prevention outreach on the city's east side.
Portland will give about $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan grants to the two organizations, part of the city's dedication to a "cure violence" model for gun violence reduction.
City leaders solicited proposals from Portland-based groups earlier this year, asking them to engage "high-risk youth and young adults" who are "at risk of becoming victims or perpetrators of gun violence." They even identified "hubs" for gun violence outreach around three high schools — McDaniel High School, Parkrose High School and David Douglas High School.
Michael Fesser, executive director of Going Home II, said his organization has a plan.
“How we've been doing it over the years, you just go out and you build relationships," Fesser said. "So we will be around the schools or the hot areas talking to the youth and talking to the parents."
He said the money will help him hire local staff members, people from the Portland community who are well-connected and aware of what's going on, to better connect with people at risk of gun violence.
"This model of us being able to be out in the community ... will (transform) lives," he said. "You won't see a difference ... overnight, but you will see it eventually and you'll start seeing the communication, the openness of people."
The Portland Police Bureau reports that shootings in Portland are down slightly from the last two years, but still much higher than the 2019 and 2020 levels.
PPB recorded 643 shootings between January and July of 2023, compared to 790 in 2022 and 717 in 2021 over that same timeframe.
In 2019, PPB reported 233 shootings between January and July. In 2020, the bureau reported 371 shootings during those months.
Portland's Office of Violence Prevention used a map of shooting clusters to choose the eastside outreach locations. While the cluster map doesn’t show that young people were involved or responsible for the shootings, Fesser and city leaders said this approach is a long-term strategy.
“Intervening before they pick up a gun, before they shoot someone, before they become a victim of gun violence is important," said Sierra Ellis, interim manager of the Office of Violence Prevention. "It changes the trajectory of their life.”
Fesser, who said his organization has experience working with individuals who have experienced trauma, violence, incarceration and loss of housing and work, said the outreach-based approach can be deeply effective.
"Just knowing where the people are, where the kids are, where the problems are, and going out there and attacking this head-on," he said.