Stockton Office of Violence Prevention outlines prevention expansion as council weighs budget cuts

Laura Larson, director of the Stockton Office of Violence Prevention, told the City Council during a budget study session that the office will maintain its 25‑year ceasefire strategy while expanding prevention work to reach more young people.

Larson said the prevention portfolio for FY2025 focuses on: reviving and expanding school‑based peacekeepers; launching a paid employment‑readiness internship for ages 17–35; scaling trauma‑informed and substance‑use programming; and establishing a 24/7 youth response hotline for immediate de‑escalation. "We are going to expand our school‑based peacekeeper program" and "we're going to develop an employment readiness program" she said, describing a stipended internship and connections to trade schools.

Why it matters: councilmembers repeatedly contrasted the OVP request with the police budget, noting Stockton's police appropriations total roughly $195 million while OVP's prevention request for the year remains near $2.1 million. Larson and councilmembers framed prevention as a complement to enforcement: prevention targets root causes and reduces downstream costs of violence — which Larson estimated at approximately $3.1 million per homicide and $1.1 million per shooting in 2023 when health care, emergency response and economic losses are included.

OVP evidence and scale: Larson cited a longitudinal evaluation of the ceasefire model (1997–2022) that, she said, found participants were 40% less likely to be re‑shot and that the program corresponded with a 25% reduction in overall recidivism and a 32% reduction in violent recidivism. She also reported year‑to‑date city figures showing 17 homicides (a cited 29% reduction compared with the previous year) and 44 nonfatal shootings (a cited 10% reduction).

Funding plan and grants: Larson told the council OVP is pursuing three revenue strategies to sustain expansion. First, she said OVP is pursuing Medi‑Cal billing certification for violence‑prevention hospital response work; preliminary estimates put reimbursable revenue in excess of $1 million annually if certification and billing are achieved. Second, the department is applying to the CalVIP cohort 5 and expects that CalVIP funds would support school‑based positions (the application cycle returns decisions in January 2026). Third, Larson described a Proposition 47 application, an up‑to‑$8 million opportunity she said would support diversion‑court programming, behavioral health and substance‑use services in partnership with other agencies.

Staffing requests and constraints: Larson said grant awards would add staff — for example, CalVIP would fund two full‑time positions and five part‑time peacekeepers under the current application; Prop 47 could add additional clinical partners and staff. She emphasized that the city’s current general‑fund allocation for OVP is limited: the FY2025 general fund breakout presented included $691,947 for employee services, $246,000 for other services and $20,000 for materials (total cited ~$961,181 from the general fund), with additional Measure A allocations.

Council response and next steps: councilmembers pressed for details about school cooperation, county behavioral‑health partnerships, and how the department will sustain services if grant awards fail or are smaller than requested. Larson acknowledged programmatic limitations of county behavioral health (county programs generally serve moderate‑to‑severe cases) and said OVP will continue to connect residents to partners while pursuing grants to provide direct services when appropriate. Council directed staff to incorporate OVP requests into the balanced budget and to return with refined cost and funding details at adoption.

The council will consider the recommended budget and the department's grant prospects before the June 24 adoption vote.