San Francisco will roll out a program in October paying 10 people $300 a month not to shoot anyone.
The city’s Dream Keeper Fellowship is launching an effort to partner 10 individuals likely to commit or be victims of area shootings with coaches and make them “community ambassadors” with monthly compensation, executive director of the Human Rights Commission Sheryl Davis told Newsweek.
“What we are talking about is saying we are going to invest resources in this 25-year-old who has eight previous arrests, who is on parole, who is a proud member of a neighborhood clique and who is not even seeking services,” David Muhammad, National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform’s executive director, told the Examiner.
San Francisco is launching The Dream Keeper Fellowship, which will pay 10 individuals who are at high risk of being on either end of a shooting $300 each month to not shoot eachother.
Yes, San Francisco is paying people not to shoot one another.
— Amy Tarkanian (@MrsT106) September 1, 2021
The 10 participants could ramp up to 30 and maybe even 200 to 300 by the end of the year, according to the Examiner.
“It’s not necessarily as cut and dry as folks may think. It’s not as transactional as, ‘Here’s a few dollars so that you don’t do something bad,’ but it really is about how you help us improve public safety in the neighborhood,” Davis told Newsweek. (RELATED: ‘People Are Scared To Go Into These Stores’: Shoplifting Is Plaguing Residents, Stores In San Francisco)
“As you become better, your community benefits from that,” Davis continued.
The life coaches come from San Francisco’s Street Violence Intervention Program, according to Newsweek. Participants will reportedly have a chance to earn an additional $200 each month for efforts at community improvement including work, school attendance and mediation of potentially violent situations.
Officials in San Francisco vowed to cut the police’s budget by $120 million over the next two years. San Francisco has experienced a significant uptick in crime in 2021, with a 22% larceny increase, 52% burglary upsurge, 40% arson growth and 37% uptick in vehicle thefts according to crime data.
