SUBJECT
Title
EXPANDING COMMUNITY-LED VIOLENCE PREVENTION IN SPRING VALLEY WITH NO SHOTS FIRED PROGRAM (DISTRICTS: 1 & 4)
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OVERVIEW
Gun violence remains one of the most urgent and costly public safety challenges in San Diego County. Each fatal shooting in San Diego costs taxpayers $4.05 million, and each nonfatal shooting costs $1.3 million, in combined medical, law enforcement, court, incarceration, and social service expenses. According to 2023 data, the City of San Diego alone experiences 48 fatal shootings and 166 nonfatal shootings annually, costing residents over $411 million per year in taxpayer dollars.
This burden of violence falls disproportionately on Black and Latinx communities. Between 2017 and 2022, the firearm homicide rate for Black San Diegans was 9.9 times higher than for White residents. Beyond the direct financial costs, these shootings perpetuate trauma, destabilize families, and erode community trust. Indeed, violence spreads like a “public health contagion,” concentrated in geographic “hot spots” where trauma and disinvestment intersect.
Founded in 1992 as a ministry of Charity Apostolic Church, Shaphat Outreach (Shaphat) is a community violence intervention and prevention organization dedicated to reducing shootings, recidivism, and community harm through outreach, mentorship, and supportive services. The organization focuses on helping youth and adults impacted by gang involvement and violence to achieve self-change and build positive life trajectories.
At the center of Shaphat’s work is the nationally recognized No Shots Fired (NSF) program. The NSF program has been funded by the City of San Diego since 2021 and combines street outreach, hospital-based intervention, conflict mediation, wraparound case management, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based journaling to address both immediate crises and underlying trauma.
Shaphat’s Credible Messengers, known as Violence Interrupters, are trained community-based public safety professionals with lived experience in gangs, incarceration, and community violence. Violence Interrupters mediate conflicts before they escalate, mentor youth, and connect their families to supportive services. NSF programming also includes the Seasons of Peace violence reduction campaigns, advocacy training, and partnerships with schools, courts, probation, and health agencies to strengthen protective factors across neighborhoods.
Shaphat currently serves youth and young adults ages 12 to 31, primarily from Black and Latinx communities in Districts 1 and 4, with additional reach into Districts 2, 3, and 5 through its Gun Diversion Program. Participants are largely low income and system impacted, many of whom have experienced school disconnection, trauma, or prior involvement with the justice systems. Through collaborations with San Diego Organizing Project and CORE 6, Shaphat also provides mentorship, civic engagement, and substance use prevention education to youth ages 12 to 26, helping them transition from street involvement to leadership and advocacy. Additionally, Shaphat provides weekly services at two County Achievement Centers-the Downtown Achievement Center on G Street and the Spring Valley Achievement Center. Shaphat staff visit each site twice per week, facilitating mentorship sessions, journaling groups, and violence prevention workshops on a pro bono basis. These sessions focus on substance use prevention, emotional regulation, and life planning, complimenting each center’s academic and therapeutic programming.
The County of San Diego has a unique opportunity to support a vital community partner through today’s action, which will benefit residents across the county. In alignment with Board Policy A-87, today’s action will direct the Director, Department of Purchasing and Contracting, to enter into a single-source contract not to exceed $250,000 annually with Shaphat Outreach to support personnel, participant costs and wraparound services, Train-the-Trainer implementation, and program supplies and materials in Spring Valley. These investments will enhance NSF’s capacity, deepen its impact, and implement a new Train-the-Trainer model to professionalize and sustain the region’s community violence intervention and prevention infrastructure.
RECOMMENDATION
VICE CHAIR MONICA MONTGOMERY STEPPE
1. In accordance with Board Policy A-87(3), approve and authorize the Director, Department of Purchasing and Contracting, to enter negotiations with Shaphat Outreach, and subject to successful negotiations and a determination of fair and reasonable price, award a contract for the No Shots Fired program in Spring Valley for a term of one (1) year, with five (5) one-year option periods and up to an additional six (6) months if needed, and to amend the contract as needed to reflect changes to services and funding.
EQUITY IMPACT STATEMENT
Each year, more than 39,000 people in the United States die as result of gun violence, and over one-hundred thousand suffer non-fatal gun injuries. The proposed action seeks to increase public safety and reduce firearm violence in Spring Valley, while also recognizing that countywide data shows that Black and Latinx victims of homicide are more likely to be killed by a firearm than another weapon type.
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SUSTAINABILITY IMPACT STATEMENT
By increasing public safety and reducing firearm violence in all communities and for all county residents, this action furthers the County’s Sustainability goal of protecting the health and wellbeing of everyone in the region.
FISCAL IMPACT
Funds for this request will be included in the Fiscal Year 2026-27 CAO Recommended Operational Plan in the Public Safety Group. If approved, this request will result in ongoing costs of $250,000 beginning in Fiscal Year 2026-27. The funding source is General Purpose Revenue. There will be no additional staff years.
BUSINESS IMPACT STATEMENT
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ADVISORY BOARD STATEMENT
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BACKGROUND
Gun violence remains one of the most urgent and costly public safety challenges in San Diego County. Each fatal shooting in San Diego costs taxpayers $4.05 million, and each nonfatal shooting costs $1.3 million, in combined medical, law enforcement, court, incarceration, and social service expenses. According to 2023 data, the City of San Diego alone experiences 48 fatal shootings and 166 nonfatal shootings annually, costing residents over $411 million per year in taxpayer dollars.
This burden of violence falls disproportionately on Black and Latinx communities. Between 2017 and 2022, the firearm homicide rate for Black San Diegans was 9.9 times higher than for White residents. Beyond the direct financial costs, these shootings perpetuate trauma, destabilize families, and erode community trust. Indeed, violence spreads like a “public health contagion,” concentrated in geographic “hot spots” where trauma and disinvestment intersect.
According to a report from the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), there were 127,206 Group A offenses reported to law enforcement across the San Diego region in 2024, including crimes against persons, property, and society. Group A offenses, designated by the National Incident Based Reporting System, includes 52 serious crimes, including murder, robbery, and burglary. One in four of these were violent crimes against persons, with murders and non-negligent manslaughter increasing by 4% from the previous year. Of the homicides where motive was identified, approximately 23% were gang-related, illustrating the persistent link between community violence and gang activity. Additionally, crimes against society, including drug and weapon law violations, rose by 6%, highlighting the intersection between substance use, illegal firearm possession, and community harm.
These overlapping trends demonstrate the ongoing urgency for solutions that address both individual risk factors and systemic inequities. A comprehensive response must prioritize community-based prevention, trusted outreach, and trauma-informed care, rather than costly, reactive systems that intervene only after violence occurs.
Founded in 1992 as a ministry of Charity Apostolic Church, Shaphat Outreach (Shaphat) is a community violence intervention and prevention organization dedicated to reducing shootings, recidivism, and community harm through outreach, mentorship, and supportive services. The organization focuses on helping youth and adults impacted by gang involvement and violence to achieve self-change and build positive life trajectories.
At the center of Shaphat’s work is the nationally recognized No Shots Fired (NSF) program. The NSF program has been funded by the City of San Diego since 2021 and combines street outreach, hospital-based intervention, conflict mediation, wraparound case management, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based journaling to address both immediate crises and underlying trauma.
Shaphat’s Credible Messengers, known as Violence Interrupters, are trained community-based public safety professionals with lived experience in gangs, incarceration, and community violence. Violence Interrupters mediate conflicts before they escalate, mentor youth, and connect their families to supportive services. NSF programming also includes the Seasons of Peace violence reduction campaigns, advocacy training, and partnerships with schools, courts, probation, and health agencies to strengthen protective factors across neighborhoods.
Shaphat currently serves youth and young adults ages 12 to 31, primarily from Black and Latinx communities in Districts 1 and 4, with additional reach into Districts 2, 3, and 5 through its Gun Diversion Program. Participants are largely low income and system impacted, many of whom have experienced school disconnection, trauma, or prior involvement with the justice systems. Through collaborations with San Diego Organizing Project and CORE 6, Shaphat also provides mentorship, civic engagement, and substance use prevention education to youth ages 12 to 26, helping them transition from street involvement to leadership and advocacy. Additionally, Shaphat provides weekly services at two County Achievement Centers-the Downtown Achievement Center on G Street and the Spring Valley Achievement Center. Shaphat staff visit each site twice per week, facilitating mentorship sessions, journaling groups, and violence prevention workshops on a pro bono basis. These sessions focus on substance use prevention, emotional regulation, and life planning, complimenting each center’s academic and therapeutic programming.
Since becoming institutionalized within the City of San Diego, NSF has demonstrated consistent, measurable success in reducing violence and strengthening community safety. NSF’s key outcomes as of July 2024 include the following:
• 10 Shooting Response Services: NSF responded to gun violence incidents by visiting hospitals, supporting victims’ families, and de-escalating potential retaliations in coordination with San Diego Police Department.
• 164 Mentorship & Wraparound Support Sessions: Community-based Public Safety Professionals provided ongoing CBT-informed mentorship and life-planning support to deter gang involvement.
• 87 Gang Disruption & Conflict Mediation Sessions: NSF facilitated structured mediations to resolve active and potential gang conflicts, redirecting high-risk individuals from violent paths.
• 140 Group Sessions Using Interactive Journaling: Youth and adults engaged in CBT-based journaling to build emotional regulation, goal setting, and self-reflection skills.
• 118 Community Engagement Activities: NSF staff organized neighborhood patrols, Seasons of Peace dialogues, cultural outreach with local artists, and memorial services for families affected by gun violence.
The County of San Diego (County) has a unique opportunity to support a vital community partner through today’s action, which will benefit the residents of Spring Valley. In alignment with Board Policy A-87, today’s action will fund $250,000 annually to Shaphat Outreach to support personnel, participant costs and wraparound services, Train-the-Trainer implementation, and program supplies and materials. These investments will enhance NSF’s capacity, deepen its impact, and implement a new Train-the-Trainer model to professionalize and sustain the region’s community violence intervention and prevention infrastructure.
This item requests a single source exception to Board Policy A-87 based on continuity and unique capability and knowledge to meet the County’s needs, because Shaphat Outreach, through its NSF program, has a history of successfully providing these services throughout the County through its ongoing contract with the City of San Diego. There are compelling reasons for procuring from this single source: it would be in the County’s best interest because this would build upon the unique community-based work Shaphat Outreach already provides by enhancing capacity and deepening its impact in the Spring Valley region. After reviewing alternative procurements, it was determined Shaphat Outreach is best positioned to provide these services because it currently does this work in the Spring Valley region and is familiar with the community. Approving this action will merely expand its capacity. If this single source is not approved, the County would be required to find another organization to build a similar gun violence prevention program in Spring Valley and would not be able to begin the work immediately.
LINKAGE TO THE COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO STRATEGIC PLAN
Today’s proposed action to reduce gun violence and increase public safety supports
the Community Strategic Initiative in the County of San Diego’s 2026-2031 Strategic Plan by
protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the public.
Respectfully submitted,
MONICA MONTGOMERY STEPPE
Supervisor, Fourth District
ATTACHMENT(S)
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