DATE:
5/5/2026
15
TO:
Board of Supervisors
SUBJECT
Title
EXPANDING COMMUNITY-LED VIOLENCE PREVENTION IN SPRING VALLEY WITH NO SHOTS FIRED PROGRAM (DISTRICTS: 1 & 4)
Body
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 I...
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