Interrupters Community Violence Intervention Program

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Executive Summary

Interrupters Community Violence Intervention Program is a nonprofit in California that reduces shootings and retaliation by reaching the people most at risk with trusted messengers, practical help and a path to something better. Interrupters from the neighborhoods we serve mediate conflicts, respond to incidents, meet injured young people at the hospital and connect participants with a case manager.

A small number of people are involved in most serious violence, and each shooting can start the next. Trusted messengers can reach people that police and agencies cannot, and a hand held out at the right moment can interrupt the cycle.

With this grant we will serve about 80 participants in Year 1 in 2 neighborhoods. We are not law enforcement, our staff do not carry weapons and we call 911 in any emergency. We do not promise that violence will end. We promise trained, supervised staff, careful safety rules and honest records.

Our Year 1 budget is about $263,500, growing to about $484,000 by Year 5 as we add sites, coaches and participants. Each year's budget is planned to balance, with a small surplus each year. We have 5 staff in Year 1 (an Executive Director, a Program Manager, two interrupters and a part-time outreach worker) and 9 by Year 5.

We are asking the Central Valley Safe Communities Foundation for $80,000 for two interrupter positions and training and certification. Our other income and startup support cover the rest. These numbers are estimates based on the assumptions listed at the end of this proposal, and we do not promise any result beyond what we describe.

Company Description

Interrupters Community Violence Intervention Program is a nonprofit organization in California. We are a registered charity with a volunteer board of directors, a written conflict-of-interest policy and a yearly budget the board reviews.

Our mission. To reduce shootings and retaliation by reaching the people most at risk with trusted messengers, practical help and a path to something better.

What we do.
- Employ credible messengers, called interrupters, who mediate conflicts before they turn violent.
- Respond to shootings and serious incidents with outreach to those who may retaliate and to families affected.
- Connect participants with a case manager for jobs, school, housing and counseling referrals.
- Run a hospital response program that meets injured young people at the bedside.
- Hold community vigils, peace events and trainings in the neighborhoods we serve.
- Train staff in mediation, de-escalation, trauma awareness and safety.

Our values. Respect for every participant, honesty with families and partners, safety first and a place for everyone who wants to belong.

What we do not do. We are not law enforcement, we do not investigate crimes and we do not carry weapons. Our staff never put themselves in a situation they have been trained to avoid, and we call 911 in any emergency. We explain the limits of confidentiality and follow mandatory reporting rules. We do not promise that violence will end. We follow the rules of our partner sites and our insurer.

How we got here. A group of pastors, former community members who had been in the justice system, nurses and neighbors began going to the scenes of shootings to speak with families and calm tempers. People asked for more. We kept simple records of incidents, contacts and what happened afterward. This proposal asks for support to move from volunteer outreach to a steady program with paid, trained staff and the materials to match.

Problem & Opportunity

A small number of people are involved in most serious violence, and the cycle of shooting and retaliation harms entire neighborhoods.

Cost. Violence costs lives, medical bills, lost income and lost trust, and the people most at risk usually cannot pay for help.

Access. The people most at risk often distrust police and agencies and will listen to someone from their own community.

Safety and trust. Neighbors want to know that outreach workers are trained, supervised and safe, and that the program works with respect for the law.

Missed benefits. Young people and families who live with violence need support to heal, and many get none.

What we hear.
- A nurse says she sees the same families again and again.
- A mother says she lost a son and does not want another mother to lose one.
- An outreach worker says people listen to someone who has been where they are.
- A pastor says the funerals have to stop.

We do not claim that a program can solve every challenge. We believe that trusted messengers, practical help and a hand held out at the right moment can interrupt violence.

Products & Services

Interrupters Community Violence Intervention Program gives young people and young adults at high risk of violence a safe, welcoming place to move away from violence and toward a safer path.

How the program works.
1. Neighborhoods. We work in two neighborhoods with the highest rates of shootings, chosen with city data and community leaders.
2. Outreach. Interrupters build relationships with people at risk and mediate conflicts, sometimes within hours of an incident.
3. Hospital response. Staff meet injured young people and families at the hospital to offer support and prevent retaliation.
4. Case management. A case manager works with each participant on school, work, housing and counseling referrals.
5. Practical help. A support fund pays vendors directly for emergency needs, never as cash.
6. Training. All staff complete mediation, de-escalation and trauma training and are supervised by the program manager.
7. Community events. We hold vigils and peace events that bring neighbors together.

What a typical session looks like. Participants arrive and check in with a staff member, settle in together, work on the day's activity in small groups and finish with a short talk about what went well. Staff praise effort, correct mistakes kindly and make sure no one is left out.

Staff. Our interrupters are credible messengers from the communities they serve. They pass a background check, complete our training and are paid for their time.

Access and fairness. Programs are free. Services are free and confidential within legal limits. We welcome anyone at risk, whatever their history.

Market Analysis

Who we serve. Young people and young adults ages 14 to 30 at high risk of being shot or of shooting someone, and families affected by violence, in the neighborhoods we serve. Eligibility is based on risk and referral from staff, partners and community members, and no one is turned away for a past record.

How we estimate need. We cannot count every young person who could benefit, so we plan from what we can see. In our volunteer outreach we were called to more incidents than we could respond to. Hospital staff and community leaders told us that many more people at risk need a relationship with an outreach worker than we can reach. For Year 1 we plan to serve about 80 participants at 2 neighborhoods. By Year 5, with more staff and sites, we plan to serve about 200.

Where participants come from.
- Hospital trauma teams and social workers.
- Community leaders, faith groups and families.
- Schools and probation partners.
- Participants who tell a friend.

Who else benefits. Families gain safety and support. Hospitals gain fewer repeat injuries. Neighborhoods gain trust and fewer funerals.

What the numbers mean. Every number here is a conflict that ended without a shooting. We keep our early counts modest and honest so we can do the work well.

Competitive Landscape

What young people can find today, and how we are different.

1. Police. Responsible for enforcement and investigation. Many people at risk will not talk with them. We complement them and do not replace them.

2. Hospital programs. Valuable for patients and limited to the hospital. We work with them and continue the relationship in the neighborhood.

3. Reentry and workforce programs. Provide jobs and training, usually after someone seeks help. We reach people earlier.

4. Counseling and victim services. Essential, and often hard for people at risk to trust. We offer a bridge.

5. Faith groups. Respected and stretched thin. We add trained staff and support.

What makes us different.
- Credible messengers from the neighborhoods served.
- Quick response to incidents and a hospital program.
- Case management with practical help paid to vendors.
- Strong training and supervision for safety.
- A relationship that continues over time.

Why this gap matters. Existing programs do good work, and most serve people who can already pay or who live close to them. The people we serve are the ones left over: they live in the wrong neighborhood, have the wrong schedule or have no one to ask. We are built to reach them.

We have spoken with hospital teams, community leaders and other violence prevention programs to make sure we are filling a gap and not duplicating services. Their letters of support are in the attachments.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

How young people and partners will find us.

Reaching young people.
- Hospitals. We will meet trauma teams and give them a named contact.
- Community leaders and faith groups. We will meet regularly and share contacts.
- Schools and courts. We will receive referrals through formal agreements.
- Neighborhood events. We will hold vigils and peace events and share information.
- Word of mouth. Participants tell friends.
- A simple website and a phone line staffed by outreach workers.

Reaching staff and sponsors.
- Recruit credible messengers through community leaders, reentry programs and faith groups.
- Offer an orientation, a background check and training in safety, privacy and respectful practice.
- Give partners a short report each quarter with counts of participants and what they said.

How we decide who joins. We use a simple sign-up form and enroll participants in the order received, with priority for those with the greatest need and for people new to the program. We keep a waiting list when the program is full.

What we watch. Sign-ups, attendance, conflicts mediated, participants connected to services and how many participants return for a second season.

Operations Plan

How the program will be carried out.

Timeline for Year 1:
- Months 1 and 2 (July and August): Hire the staff, buy equipment and materials, finalize the waiver, consent form and privacy policy with our attorney and sign site agreements.
- Month 3 (September): Begin outreach in the first neighborhood.
- Months 4 to 10: Respond to incidents, mediate conflicts, run the hospital program and case management in both neighborhoods.
- Months 11 and 12: Hold community events, survey participants and partners, report to funders and plan Year 2.

Space. We work from a small office in each neighborhood and meet participants in homes, hospitals and public places.

Safety and privacy.
- Outreach workers follow a written safety plan, work in pairs when responding to incidents and never act alone in a dangerous situation.
- Our staff never carry weapons, never intervene in a crime in progress and call 911 in any emergency.
- Every staff member and volunteer passes a background check and completes safety training.
- Staff work in pairs or in view of others whenever participants are minors or in a vulnerable situation.
- We keep an emergency plan at every site, and participants complete an emergency contact form.
- We keep records private, share them only with a participant's permission or as the law requires and follow a written policy.

Equipment. We buy about $8,000 of equipment once at the start: mobile phones and safety radios for outreach ($3,000), laptops and secure case management system ($2,500), outreach gear and vehicle safety equipment ($2,500). Later years replace or add a few items.

Staffing. In Year 1 I serve as Executive Director. The Program Manager, paid $46,000 a year, supervises staff and case management. Two interrupters, each paid $38,000 a year, mediate conflicts and respond to incidents. A part-time outreach worker, paid $22,000, supports the neighborhoods. We add interrupters as we add neighborhoods.

Management & Organization

Bernard Hollis, Executive Director. I lead the organization, report to the board and am responsible for budgets, partnerships and reporting. I came to this work as a pastor who buried too many young people. I will complete the training we require of our interrupters so I understand the program from the inside. (Replace this paragraph with your own background.)

Staff. The Program Manager supervises interrupters and case management, and part-time outreach workers support the neighborhoods. Each passes a background check. These positions are part of our grant request.

Board of directors. Our volunteer board includes a pastor, a trauma nurse, a former participant, a banker who serves as treasurer, an attorney, a community organizer and a parent. The board meets every other month, approves our budget and reviews our safety plan. No board member is paid, and members with a conflict of interest step out of related decisions.

Advisory partners. A hospital trauma program director, a researcher who studies violence and a neighborhood association leader give guidance twice a year.

Staffing and pay in this plan: Executive Director, paid $56,000 a year; program Manager, paid $46,000 a year; violence Interrupter, paid $38,000 a year; outreach Worker (part-time), paid $22,000 a year.

Milestones Narrative

Our goals, how we will measure them and when we plan to reach them.

Year 1 outcomes (July 2027 through June 2028):
- Serve about 80 participants at 2 neighborhoods.
- Run at least two full seasons and a summer session.
- Have at least 85 percent of participants attend most sessions.
- Have at least 80 percent of participants return for a second season.
- Receive positive feedback from at least 90 percent of families who answer our short survey.

What we count and how.
- Participants enrolled, sessions and games attended, from our records.
- Skills learned and goals met, from the coach's checklist.
- Equipment issued and returned, from our log.
- Participant and family feedback, from a short, confidential form.
We report what we find, including what did not work, and use it to improve.

Growth over five years.
- Year 2: About 110 participants at 2 neighborhoods.
- Year 3: About 140 participants at 3 neighborhoods.
- Year 4: About 170 participants at 3 neighborhoods.
- Year 5: About 200 participants at 4 neighborhoods.

Learning along the way. At the end of each quarter, the director and the board review the numbers and decide whether we are on track. If we are behind, we will adjust our outreach, our sites or our schedule before asking for more money.

After the grant. By Year 5, grants make up about 65 percent of our budget, down from about 67 percent in Year 1, as partners and donors give more. We will keep building those relationships every year.

Funding Request

What we are asking for, and how the money will be used. Our request: $80,000 from the Central Valley Safe Communities Foundation for two interrupter positions and training and certification, for July 2027 through June 2028.

The request is spread across these budget lines:
- Personnel: Violence interrupter salaries, two positions, $76,000.
- Other: Interrupter mediation and de-escalation training and certification, $4,000 (other funds add $4,000).

Other money in the program. This request is about 46% of our Year 1 grant income. Other grants and the income lines below pay for everything it does not cover.

Year 1 budget: about $263,500, planned to balance with a small surplus (about $10,900 after the yearly wear on equipment). Year 1 money coming in: Grant Revenue $175,500; city Violence Prevention Funding $60,000; hospital and Health System Partners $20,000; individual Donors $8,000. Year 1 costs: executive Director $56,000; program Manager $46,000; violence Interrupter $38,000; outreach Worker (part-time) $22,000; mediation Training and Certification about $8,000; participant Support Fund about $12,000; trauma Counseling Referrals about $8,000; community Events about $6,000; vehicles and Phones about $7,000; administration and Insurance about $10,000; about $3,600 a year for the wear on equipment.

One-time startup costs. Startup costs of $19,800 are paid once from startup money, not from the yearly budget: $3,000 for mobile phones and safety radios for outreach; $2,500 for laptops and secure case management system; $2,500 for outreach gear and vehicle safety equipment; $3,000 for attorney review of the consent form, confidentiality policy and safety plan; $1,800 for banners, bilingual flyers and a simple website; $4,000 for credible messenger and de-escalation training for the first team; $3,000 for first insurance payment.

How we got our startup number. The Funding Need Calculator in this plan adds the startup costs ($19,800), the cash the program uses before it balances (about $0) and a cash cushion of about $62,800, which is about three months of Year 1 costs. In all, that comes to $83,000. We start with $8,000 from our founding board and $77,000 in startup support from a community foundation and a hospital partner, $85,000 in all, which covers that amount with room to spare.

The next five years. Our budget grows from about $263,500 in Year 1 to about $484,000 in Year 5. Grants are planned at $175,500, $198,500, $245,000, $268,500 and $316,000 in Years 1 to 5. Other income grows: city Violence Prevention Funding from $60,000 to $100,000; hospital and Health System Partners from $20,000 to $44,000; individual Donors from $8,000 to $24,000. Our surplus is planned at about $10,900 in Year 1, about $13,200 in Year 2, about $16,800 in Year 3, about $19,200 in Year 4 and about $23,500 in Year 5. We grow from 2 neighborhoods to 4 by Year 5, adding a part-time coach for each new site.

Savings. We plan to keep several months of costs in savings. The lowest year-end balance in the plan is about $79,000, at the end of Year 1. Some grant payments and partner payments arrive after we bill, so we plan for about $10,540 owed to us at the end of Year 1.

Cost per participant. In Year 1, our total costs are about $3,158 per participant served, which includes setting up the program. By Year 5, with more participant served and a trained team in place, that falls to about $2,302 per participant.

After the grant. City violence prevention funding, corporate sponsors and individual donors grow every year, so grants become a smaller share of our budget. Participants and families share their stories, and businesses can sponsor a team or a season by name. We will look for partnerships with schools and the city that want a safe, free violence prevention option for every child.

Risks and how we will handle them:
- An injury. Certified coaches, proper equipment, groups matched by age and skill, a written emergency plan and insurance.
- A site is no longer available. We keep agreements with more than one site and a plan for bad weather.
- A coach leaves. We keep a list of trained backup coaches and share lesson plans.
- Low attendance. We adjust sites, times and rides based on family feedback.
- A privacy problem. We follow a written policy, use secure systems and train every staff member and volunteer.
- A grant ends. We keep savings and grow partner and donor support each year.

If you are just starting. A new organization can begin before it has its own 501(c)(3) status through a fiscal sponsor: an established nonprofit that receives grants for you and passes them to your program, usually for a fee (commonly around 5% to 10% of the grant, sometimes more; ask before you agree). Another way is to start smaller: one neighborhood, a handful of participants and a small team, tracked carefully. Strong results from a small start make larger grants easier to win.

Appendix Notes

Documents to attach with this proposal:

- Your IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter, or your fiscal sponsor agreement.
- Your most recent financial statements and your current year budget.
- A list of your board members and what each one does.
- Signed letters of support from partner schools, agencies and sites.
- Your site agreements and your insurance certificate.
- Your consent, waiver and privacy policy.
- Your safety plan and background check policy.
- Your program outline and schedule.
- Quotes for equipment and materials.
- Resumes for your Executive Director and key staff.
If you don't have any of this yet, no worries - let's continue.

The assumptions behind our numbers (change them in the Financials section to match your own):
- Grant Revenue: $175,500 in Year 1, growing to $316,000 in Year 5.
- City Violence Prevention Funding: $60,000 in Year 1, growing to $100,000 in Year 5.
- Hospital and Health System Partners: $20,000 in Year 1, growing to $44,000 in Year 5.
- Individual Donors: $8,000 in Year 1, growing to $24,000 in Year 5.
- Pay (a full year, per person, including payroll taxes and workers' compensation): executive Director $56,000; program Manager $46,000; violence Interrupter $38,000; outreach Worker (part-time) $22,000.
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: mediation Training and Certification $8,000; participant Support Fund $12,000; trauma Counseling Referrals $8,000; community Events $6,000; vehicles and Phones $7,000; administration and Insurance $10,000. These grow between 4% and 5% a year.
- Equipment: $8,000 at the start, then $2,000 to $3,000 a year.
- Startup costs: $19,800, paid once from $85,000 in startup money.
- Participants served: about 80 in Year 1, growing to about 200 in Year 5. Sites: 2 in Year 1, growing to 4 by Year 5. Outreach runs year-round, with peak activity in summer.
- About 4% of each year's income is still owed to us at year end.
- Tax: none, as a nonprofit.
- Every dollar amount is an estimate. Replace them with your own quotes and real budget.

Startup Costs