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Youth leaders and community groups urge prevention funding, $300,000 DCYF request
Summary
The Budget Justice Coalition and youth organizers asked the committee to invest $300,000 through DCYF in youth leadership and organizing programs as part of a prevention‑first approach to public safety, and community members urged investments in housing, jobs and diversion instead of expanded incarceration.
Community groups closed the hearing with a call to prioritize prevention and youth leadership as a complement to enforcement.
Representatives of Larkin Street Youth Services, Casa Justa and other groups described youth organizing, school‑based mediation, and street‑level outreach that connect marginalized young people to services and employment. Krista Denayo said youth advisory boards and leadership programs "get marginalized, disconnected youth engaged in productive work" and urged the board to fund youth organizing through DCYF. Coalition members requested a $300,000 allocation in the current budget cycle to expand youth leadership programs that address violence prevention and community safety.
Youth speakers described campaigns on pedestrian and knife safety, school walkouts and community conferences that build leadership and civic participation. Service providers and advocates at public comment emphasized housing, jobs and mental‑health supports as upstream investments that reduce crime; some speakers also urged the city to prioritize alternatives to incarceration and to move steadily away from large new jail investments.
Supervisors acknowledged the prevention case and noted DCYF’s recent RFP cycle had limited capacity to absorb a surge of youth organizing applicants; they asked city administrative staff to provide options for routing and sustaining youth leadership investments in the budget process.
