PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland is pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into more gun violence prevention programs through the city’s Safer Portland initiative.
City leaders say the investments are much more focused on upstream prevention than intervention – like many of the city’s existing grants through the Office of Violence Prevention and the Ceasefire program.
The goal with the latest round of investments is to reach people before violence becomes an option.
“Safer Portland is really to make sure that we have more pro-social activities,” OVP Interim Director Elisabeth Perez said. “We want to make sure that there are things like mentoring, workshops, sports, arts, and internships that they can apply to and have positive ways of spending their time.”
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By every metric, Portland’s gun violence is down compared to last year; the city – through May – reported fewer shootings, fewer injuries, and fewer shooting deaths.
Perez and other city leaders hope these investments – and other programs – keep that trend going and prevent more deadly shootings.
“Prevention is part of public safety, and if we’re investing in prevention, then that also means that we are reducing efforts needed by intervention and enforcement, which keeps costs down overall, but then also just promotes a more positive community and a safer community,” Perez said.
‘He was my joy’
The ripple effect of Portland’s gun violence was evident late last month when the family members of three young men killed in March 2023 confronted one of the accused killers in a courtroom at the Multnomah County jail.
“Our hearts are broken. Our families are broken. There is nothing that’s going to bring my [grandson] back,” Althea Sails told the suspect.
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Prosecutors said then-17-year-old Omar Osman and two other gunmen shot and killed Patrick Johnson Jr., Eskender Tamra, and Babu Daudi in the middle of the day near University Park in North Portland.
Police are still looking for two other suspects; the gunmen are accused of firing more than 50 bullets at the victims’ car.
Althea Sails is Patrick’s grandmother.
“A year and a half feels like yesterday, and it feels like forever. I still have tears when I don’t want to, and other times it feels like I’m laughing about something that he’s done,” Sails told KATU.
She said her grandson was a musician who was creative and loved spending time with his family. His mother described her son as brave.
“He was my joy,” Sails said.
Breaking down the grants
Perez said more than 60 organizations applied for a piece of the $800,000 pot. Nine organizations ended up getting between $50,000 and $100,000. Many organizations – even some that have participated under the previous program, Safer Summer PDX – missed out.
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“You might have some people who hear $800,000 [and think], that’s a lot of money. Why should they support spending this amount of money on gun violence prevention,” KATU asked Perez.
“Because it’s positive for the entire community, for all of Portland. The more that we are able to give folks opportunities, that makes everybody safer, and that’s really raising everybody up,” Perez said.
For people who thought the investment should be larger, Perez said she agreed.
“I wish we had more money, so that is something that we are looking at this next year,” Perez said.
‘People change people’
HOLLA is one of the organizations funded through Safer Portland. It’s getting $100,000 to expand its mentor program for school-aged Portlanders.
“Programs can change people, but ultimately people change people, and those relationships are key,” HOLLA program director Lindsey Mayer said.
Mayer said the organization will hire another mentor who can reach 60 additional children and teens. The funding will also expand their volunteer mentorship program.
“Violence prevention is huge. It’s so important, and we’ve seen the work that we do be an outlet for students instead of being involved in whether it’s gang activity or violence in general,” Mayer said.
The key now is doing the work and making sure your tax dollars make a difference.
Althea Sails hopes – if nothing else — her grandson’s death sparks that difference.
“The reason we’re all here is for purpose and to love each other and to care for each other, but making choices to kill people is just never the answer,” Sails said. “Hurting people is just never the answer.”