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Albuquerque Community Safety seeks $3.3M to expand school-based violence-intervention program
Summary
Albuquerque’s Community Safety Department told the committee its school-based violence intervention program served over 150 high-school students with an 83% senior graduation rate for participants and requested $3.3 million to expand to more high schools; ACS also outlined a $6.2M staffing ask for citywide field-response staffing.
City of Albuquerque officials told the Legislative Health & Human Services Committee that the Albuquerque Community Safety (ACS) Department’s School-Based Violence Intervention Program (SBVIP) has shown measurable student outcomes and needs recurring funding to sustain and scale.
Samantha Single, the city’s chief administrative officer, introduced Jody Esquivel, ACS director, who framed ACS as Albuquerque’s third public-safety branch with dedicated behavioral-health responders, community responders and street outreach teams. Jasmine Desiderio, deputy director of ACS’s violence-intervention division, described SBVIP as a mentorship and wraparound service operating full time in four high schools (West Mesa, Atrisco, Del Norte and RFK Charter). Desiderio said the pilot (started 2022) has served more than 150 students and reported an 83 percent graduation rate among participating seniors in the past school year.
"We've seen over 150 students in our program," Desiderio said, and she linked participation to improved GPA, reduced major/minor school offenses and higher graduation rates among the highest-risk students. The program accepts referrals from school administrators, law enforcement and juvenile probation, offers in-school mentoring and an elective that lets students meet with staff daily.
ACS asked the committee to consider a $3,300,000 appropriation to expand the SBVIP model to approximately 13 high schools within APS and certain charter schools, which ACS estimated would fund two-person teams in each school (about $209,000 per school annually) and support around 500 students per year. Separately, Esquivel said staffing to implement a quadrant model for citywide field response would require roughly $6,200,000.
Lawmakers asked about program spread, tribal and rural outreach, staff backgrounds and safety for non‑police responders. ACS said intervention specialists come from varied backgrounds (education assistants, CYFD, juvenile services, lived experience) and that safety protocols include dispatching through police dispatch and code-checks by APD; ACS reported that only about 1.3% of calls needed escalation back to police in recent counts. West Mesa High School principal Michelle Torres gave a first-hand account of students who re-engaged with school because of SBVIP support.
Next steps: ACS said its grant funding runs through 2026 and urged lawmakers to support sustaining and expanding the program; presenters provided concrete budget figures and outcome metrics, and said they are available for follow-up meetings with committee members.
