San Francisco ‘Dream Keeper’ Program Will Pay People to End Gun Violence

San Francisco authorities are debuting their latest attempt at combating the rise in gun violence in their city: paying at-risk individuals to not pull the trigger, and for completing life services programs, reports the San Francisco Examiner.

The program, called the Dream Keeper Fellowship, will launch as a pilot program in October with just 10 participants, acting as the city’s latest iteration of a guaranteed-income program designed to provide high-risk individuals with $300 a month as a start.

The program will expand to an additional 30 high-risk individuals by the end of the year, officials say.

Over time, as participants hit monthly milestones — like landing a job interview, complying with probation, or consistently meeting with a mentor — they will be able to earn up to $200 more a month. To help keep participants on track, the Dream Keeper Fellowship will pair individuals with newly hired life coaches from the Street Violence Intervention Program (SVIP).

The theory backing this pilot program is simple, advocates say, noting that the stipend could be enough of an incentive to have someone join, and the change would help them stay engaged.

At worst, skeptics are comparing the program to its predecessors, deeming it “cash for criminals.” However, advocates anticipated pushback, and have been working hard to dispel stigma, arguing that this program will address the root cause of some criminality, the San Francisco Examiner detailed.

Moreover, advocates note that the program would amount to $6,000 annually in stipends — which isn’t enough to live comfortably on, but it could be enough to help deter someone from criminal activity, kick start their life, and avoid incarceration. 

“We know that $500 in San Francisco is not a significant amount of money,” said Sheryl Davis, a proponent of the program and executive director of the Human Rights Commission. “But if it’s enough to get you in to talk to folks, and be able to make a plan for your life, then that’s huge.”

While the stipends won’t come with restrictions, officials aren’t concerned that the funds will be used nefariously by participants. The money received will be placed on a reloadable gift card, and all spending will be tracked by program managers. 

“There have been studies of guaranteed-income programs in Stockton, and other places, that really track how [at-risk participants] were spending the money and showed that [nefarious spending] was not the case at all,” said David Muhammad, executive director of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform. “Folks spent it on transportation and food and bills.”

The program is modeled, in part, after the nationally watched Operation Peacemaker Fellowship in Richmond, which offers similar stipends of up to $1,000, according to the San Francisco Examiner. 

A 2019 study published in the American Journal of Public Health linked the program to a 55 percent decrease in gun homicides, and 43 percent decline in shootings since it began in 2010, giving San Francisco officials hope at the successes of this budding program.

Current Bay Area Violence Increasing

This latest reform effort comes as gun violence rates have soared in San Francisco, after years of gun crimes being on the decline. Unfortunately, it’s a pattern being seen around the nation, even in cities like Oakland that already have cash incentive programs, the San Francisco Examiner details. 

According to ABC News, San Francisco police say the gun crimes they respond to are unlike crimes they’ve seen in decades, noting that the rising amount of assault rifles and shotguns dwarf the number of handguns and revolvers being seen on the streets. 

Hayward Police Chief Toney Chaplin showed ABC News reporters a 100 round magazine clip the police department recently seized — but the gunman is still at large. 

“You can sit there and fire for probably a good minute or two before you have to reload this thing,” Chaplin explained, noting that these weapons are being used “basically to hunt and kill other people,” around the city. 

To that end, assault rifles are not the only weapons San Francisco police are struggling to combat and confiscate: ghost guns are on the rise. 

See Also: Ghost Guns Called ‘Fastest Growing Public Safety Issue’ in Gun Violence

Ghost guns, untraceable and unregulated firearms that anyone can buy and build without a background check, have become more popular among Bay Area criminals. 

“Ghost guns are a massive problem in San Francisco — they are becoming increasingly involved in murders, attempted murders, and assaults with firearms,” District Attorney Chesa Boudin said earlier this month at a press conference.

The National Interest detailed that according to reports, police seized 164 ghost guns in 2020 — a 2,600 percent increase from recent years. 

To combat this, Boudin recently announced that the city is suing three California companies, Blackhawk Manufacturing Group, GS Performance, and MDX Corp., that make and distribute ghost guns to many California residents, according to The New York Times. 

“Enough is enough,” Boudin said, as quoted by the National Interest. “It is not enough to wait until after someone has been shot and killed by a firearm. We must get to the root of the problem.”

Additional Reading: Gun Violence: ‘The Thin Line Between Perpetrator and Victim’

Andrea Cipriano is a TCR staff writer.