Reality-based harm reduction
We assume participants will encounter and potentially use firearms; we teach safer behaviors for those moments.
Teaching firearm safety to the youth who need it most.
A harm-reduction cohort for Oakland youth already living around guns. We teach reality—not range rules.
At a Glance
How the program works
Identify Risk
We work with partners to recruit youth (14–24) who are already proximate to firearms—legally or otherwise.
Train Reality
An 8-week cohort that teaches firearm handling, scenario-based training, and trauma response—skills that actually save lives in urban environments.
Prevent Harm
We don't validate possession; we build the respect and technical skills needed to reduce accidental injury and incarceration.
Our Approach
Five principles guiding harm reduction
Respect-forward instruction
Short classroom sessions + supervised range time with certified instructors establish non-negotiable safety norms.
Real-world risk education
Backstops, penetration through walls/cars, ricochet, and celebratory fire—why "casual" discharge is deadly.
Emergency response capacity
Trauma/bleeding-control training with EMS/FD partners to stabilize a scene until help arrives.
Culture work
Facilitated, no-shame discussions to de-romanticize firearms without moralizing.
Program Model
Cohort-based delivery specs
- Cohort Size
- 10–15 participants
- Staffing
- 3–4 instructors/support
- Duration
- 2 months
- Format
- 4 classroom sessions (4–6 hrs total), 4 supervised range sessions, 1 "Guns in the Wild" module
- Extended Option
- 12-month ambassador track (1–2 groups/year)
Program Investment
What it costs to reach 15 youth
$2,500
Cost Per Participant
$37,500
Cost Per Cohort (15 Youth)
1:3
Instructor Ratio
2 mo
Program Duration
Budget Breakdown (Per Participant)
Instruction & Supervision
Certified instructors + Lead Facilitator
~$800
Stipends
"Earn while you learn" model
~$600
Logistics & Admin
Transport, meals, insurance, vetting
~$500
Hard Costs
Range rental + ~500 rounds
~$450
Trauma Gear
IFAK issued to graduates
~$150
The Cost of Violence
The public cost of failure
Non-Fatal Shooting
>$400,000
Conservative estimate
- Acute medical & surgical care
- Police investigation
- Court & incarceration costs
- Victim services
Recent NICJR studies in Oakland place the full social cost of a non-fatal shooting at
$962,000, suggesting the actual ROI is more than double what is shown
here.
— National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, Oakland Cost of Violence
Study
Homicide
$2.5M
Full economic impact
- Investigation & legal proceedings
- 25+ year incarceration costs
- Medical & coroner
- Lost productivity & tax revenue
Source: NICJR, The Cost of Gun Violence in Oakland, CA
3×
Hidden hospital costs: Firearm injuries result in 3× higher medical spending
per survivor compared to other mechanisms of injury. Initial hospitalization is just the tip of
the iceberg.
— Annals of Internal Medicine / UCSF Study
Return on Investment
The leverage of prevention
Adjust the number of cohorts to see projected investment and impact
Total Program Investment
$150,000
60 youth reached
vs
Cost of 1 Incident Prevented
>$400,000
Non-fatal shooting (conservative)
ROI Multiplier
10.6×
Break-Even Point
2.6
cohorts paid for by preventing 1 injury
The math: Preventing just one major firearm injury pays for approximately 160 program participants (~10.6 cohorts). Every cohort represents a net positive return on public investment.
Program Rationale
Filling the middle layer of intervention
Urban gun harm often stems less from premeditation than from proximity, low safety literacy, and performative use in non-range environments—cars, apartments, parties, and peer conflicts. Existing interventions focus upstream (structural factors, policing, jobs) or downstream (hospital-based). The middle layer—practical harm reduction for those already around guns—is underbuilt.
The Oakland Project fills that gap. We accept the reality that firearms circulate—legally and extralegally—in some youths' networks. We therefore teach what changes outcomes: backstops, penetration, ricochet, celebratory fire, and how to behave around unsafe handling. Embodied, supervised practice increases respect and reduces reckless behavior; trauma training reinforces that firearms are life-and-death tools and that communities need stabilizers, not escalators.
Cohort delivery through schools, CBOs, reentry, and violence-interruption partners targets youth actually proximate to risk. Documented safety protocols, consent, insurance, and incident reporting make the model legible to city, county, and philanthropic funders. The ambassador track helps safe norms circulate in the same networks where guns circulate.
Who We Want at the Table
Collaborative partners for cohort delivery
- Violence-interruption, reentry, and youth-serving organizations Participant selection, retention
- City/county public safety and public health Alignment, data, evaluation
- Fire/EMS Co-deliver trauma modules
- Funders/foundations/city funding Underwrite cohorts and range time
- Legal/insurance advisors Minors + firearms environments
Safeguards & Non-Condonation
Program integrity and risk management
- Certified instructors and insured range partners.
- Guardian consent required for minors.
- Clear code of conduct: no weapons handling outside program settings.
- Incident reporting, attendance tracking, and pre/post surveys.
Statement: Real-world risk content is provided solely to reduce harm where firearms are already present; it does not authorize or endorse unlawful possession, carrying, or discharge.
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