Join Our Mailing List
Welcome to the CalGRIP Web Site
Please Note: Senate Bill 92 abolished funding for the Office of Gang and Youth Violence Policy (OGYVP). THE OFFICE CLOSED ON DECEMBER 31, 2011. 
Questions about the CalGRIP Grant?
The California Emergency Management Agency will administer the FY 2011/12 California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention (CalGRIP) Grant Program. (www.calema.ca.gov)
Other core functions will be assumed by the newly-formed Board of State and Community Corrections (currently the Corrections Standards Authority), effective July 1, 2012.
History of the CalGRIP Initiative
More than 15,000 gang-related homicides were committed in California between 1981 and 2008. Long considered a problem confined to Los Angeles, gangs and gang violence now plague all of California's large and medium-sized cities, and many of its suburbs, towns, and rural areas. The ten cities with the highest homicide rates in this state (2008) include cities such as Richmond, Salinas, Rialto, and Vallejo, and do not include the City of Los Angeles. It is fair to say that California suffers from an epidemic of gang violence that is of statewide dimension. For these reasons, Governor Schwarzenegger and the Legislature established the California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention (CalGRIP) Initiative and the Governor's Office of Gang and Youth Violence Policy.
 |
Until recently, California's primary approach to gang violence was suppression, with sporadic use of prevention and intervention strategies. Law enforcement no longer believes, however, that we can arrest our way out of the problem. The extent and persistence of gang violence allow no other conclusion. Any community that seeks to reduce gang and youth violence must take a strategic, comprehensive, and planned approach. City and county government, law enforcement and business must work with educators and community- and faith-based service providers to take advantage of their broad array of tools and resources. Public and private organizations must invest in strategies and programs that have been proven effective by rigorous evaluations. And in each community, there must be a public official or office that takes responsibility, and is held accountable, for these efforts.
The state's responsibility is to support the work at the local level. Like local communities, however, state government can no longer conduct business as usual. The mission of the CalGRIP iniative is to: 1) bring collaboration to the many state offices working in this field, so that state assistance is more strategic, efficient, and responsive to local needs, and 2) ensure that state resources are employed to obtain the best outcomes possible. To that end, one of OGYVP's first actions was to determine which state offices provided local assistance to cities, counties, and local organizations that was aimed at reducing gang and youth violence, and the extent and nature of that assistance. Through a survey of state agencies, OGYVP learned that in FY 2007-08, 14 offices in eight state agencies or departments distributed approximately $1.5 billion to the local level through 42 funding streams (to view the results of this survey, see Gang and Youth Violence State Program Inventory by Department pdf). Many of these funding streams support similar strategies and target the same youth populations. Clearly, there is an urgent need at the state level to improve collaboration, strategic use of funds, and investments likely to reduce crime and recidivism.