Advocating for gender-responsive funding for girls and youth through Oakland Reimagining Safety Taskforce

As a member of the Oakland Reimagining Public Safety Taskforce from 2020-2021, AFG joined the Anti-Police Terror Project (APTP), MISSSEY, Family Violence Law Center (FVLC), and hundreds of other advocates in advocating for a 50% reduction and reallocation of the Oakland Police Department General Purpose Fund budget towards addressing the root causes of violence and crime (including health services, housing, and jobs). Together with our community we put forward three recommendations including:

• Expanding and funding existing hard reduction services;

• Increasing funding to gender-based violence response services; and

• Expanding flexible funding for survivors of gender-based violence

In June 2021, the Oakland City Council approved a re-allocation of $18 million from the Oakland Police Department to the Department of Violence Prevention for alternative methods of violence prevention. This advocacy win is the result of over a decade’s worth of advocacy from survivors of violence, community-based organizations, elected officials, and community leaders.

For more information about the Oakland Reimagining Public Safety Task Force and its recommendations click here.

AFG continues to join its members in advocating for funding to address the root causes of violence including gender-based violence prevention and intervention in the Bay Area and beyond. For instance, in 2022, it supported Family Violence Law Center in advocating to the Alameda Public Protection Committee with the Family Violence Law Center to increase gender-based violence prevention and intervention support to $16 million in the Alameda County budget to adequately address gender-based violence in Alameda county.