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Apr
22

Regional Office of Gun Violence Prevention: Community-based Resource Guide

Gun violence is not inevitable, it is preventable, there are ways to intervene and there is support for healing. Everyone deserves to be safe and well.

Regional Peacekeepers Collective distributes gun lockboxes during a commemorative event on National Gun Violence Awareness Day
Regional Peacekeepers Collective distributes gun lockboxes during a commemorative event on National Gun Violence Awareness Day

In King County, we understand that gun violence is a public health emergency. The King County Regional Office of Gun Violence Prevention seeks to prevent and eliminate gun violence and ensure equitable health outcomes for all by providing life-affirming care and resources to the individuals and families who are most impacted by unjust systems.

Gun violence must be addressed through a robust public health approach that empowers those closest to the problem to work in partnership to determine and implement lasting solutions.

While we cannot eliminate gun violence overnight, we can decrease risk and increase safety by connecting to community supports and services that address the physical, emotional, and economic impacts of gun violence. Everyone in King County deserves to live in communities that are hopeful, safe, healthy, and thriving.

If you or someone you know has been impacted by gun violence and needs support, please see the following resources:

Gun violence intervention, prevention and restoration initiatives

Regional Peacekeepers Collective (RPKC) is an initiative of the King County Regional Office of Gun Violence Prevention. This initiative supports culturally responsive BIPOC-led community organizations that provide Intervention, Prevention, and Restoration services including critical incident and hospital-based response, intensive engagement, and wrap-around life-affirming care and resources to individuals and families most impacted by gun violence and unjust systems.

RPKC service providers

Community Passageways is a non-profit that creates alternatives to incarceration for young people by rebuilding our communities through committed relationships centered on love, compassion, and consistency. 

  • Services: Critical Incident Management, Violence Interruption, Client Services and Referral, Family Restoration Services, Community Safe Passage
  • Phone: 206-257-0774
  • Email: info@communitypassageways.org

Freedom Project works alongside the community to dismantle the institution of mass incarceration and heal its traumatic effects on individuals directly impacted by incarceration, on their loved ones, and on our community. 

Harborview Medical Center is a comprehensive healthcare facility dedicated to providing specialized care for a broad spectrum of patients from throughout the Pacific Northwest, including the most vulnerable residents of King County. As the only designated Level I adult and pediatric trauma and verified burn center in the state of Washington, Harborview serves as the regional trauma and burn referral center for Alaska, Montana and Idaho and the disaster preparedness and disaster control hospital for Seattle and King County.

  • Services: Hospital-based intervention, referrals to community care for eligible clients
  • Emergency Department phone: 206-744-3074 
  • Hours of operation: Trauma and Emergency Medicine is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week 

Progress Pushers are committed to the empowerment and upliftment of systemically oppressed communities. their mission is to guide, educate, and empower youth that are most impacted by societal systems. 

The YMCA Alive & Free program serves youth and young adults across King County who are involved with or impacted by groups, gangs, community violence, or the justice system. This work is done through street outreach and case management in partnership with several cities and organizations across King County. 

  • Services: Violence Interruption, Outreach, Case Management Service Navigation 
  • Phone: 206-749-7550

Rainier Beach Action Coalition (RBAC) - Restorative Resolutions

Rainer Beach Action Coalition (RBAC) has been active in the Rainier Beach neighborhood since 2015. Restorative Resolutions is a project led by RBAC and funded by Public Health – Seattle & King County in alignment with the Regional Peacekeepers Collective initiative. Restorative Resolutions supports families and individuals in SE Seattle most impacted by gun violence. Restorative Resolutions specifically supports Rainer Beach by providing violence interruption, healing-focused events and gatherings and access to resources, including housing, mental health services, rent support, and more.

RBAC service providers

Cultured provides opportunities for leadership, networking, academic support, career development, and discipleship to youth in South Seattle. 

  • Services: Violence Interruption, Critical Incident Support, Community Safe Passage, After School Programing 
  • Email: cultured@seattleyfc.org

The mission of the Fatherhood Accountability Movement is to support and mentor all fathers, father figures, etc. and families navigate through the pressures of parenting and the various systems that oppress them.

Services: Monthly Parent Check In's and Teen Parent Check In's, Community Events

Phone: 206-201-4370

Fathers & Sons Together (FAST) is a youth development organization that focuses on family development, providing guidance, support, and nurturing to families, specifically those of color. FAST promotes lifestyle changes that support improved educational outcomes, improved health, and wellness. 

Rainer Beach Action Coalition (RBAC) is a grassroot, Black-led organization devoted to locally driven development. For over ten years, it has promoted quality education, living wage jobs, affordable transportation and housing, and building community capacity in Seattle’s Rainier Beach neighborhood. 

The mission of Urban Family is to create opportunities that empower urban youth and their families to develop their full potential and help reshape the social environment of their community. 

  • Services: Youth Mentorship/Internship Programs, Family Support, Neighborhood Safety, and Community Events
  • Phone: 206-775-8901 
  • Email: info1@urbanfam.org

Seattle Community Safety Initiative (SCSI)

Seattle Community Safety Initiative (SCSI) is an initiative of the City of Seattle, supporting a hub-based approach to provide services in the following three geographic locations: Central, Southeast, and West Seattle. SCSI provides school safe passage, street outreach, and service navigation. SCSI partners with the Regional Peacekeepers Collective to provide critical incident response and follow-up care for those most directly impacted by gun violence. 

SCSI providers

The Boys & Girls Club of King County – SE Network SafetyNet collaborates with community partners to provide a SafetyNet of specialized, targeted programming that empowers youth to excel in school, build character, and lead healthy, productive lives.

  • Services/Programs: Work Readiness & Training, Career & College Readiness, Paid Internships & Employment, Housing Navigation & Assistance, Food Assistance, Case Management, Community-Wide Restorative Peace/Healing Circles, Community Safety, Youth & Young Adult Programming- Teen Drop-In Program, Tutoring Program, Studio Program, Cafe Program, Art Program, Safe Pathways Program
  • Phone: 206-724-9654 (Intake & Referral)

Community Passageways is a non-profit that creates alternatives to incarceration for young people by rebuilding our communities through committed relationships centered on love, compassion, and consistency. 

  • Services: Critical Incident Management, Violence Interruption, Client Services and Referral, Family Restoration Services, Community Safe Passage
  • Phone: 206-257-0774
  • Email: info@communitypassageways.org

The mission of Urban Family is to create opportunities that empower urban youth and their families to develop their full potential and help reshape the social environment of their community. 

  • Services: Youth Mentorship/Internship Programs, Family Support, Neighborhood Safety, and Community Events
  • Phone: 206-775-8901 
  • Email: info1@urbanfam.org

The YMCA Alive & Free program serves youth and young adults across King County who are involved with or impacted by groups, gangs, community violence, or the justice system. This work is done through street outreach and case management in partnership with several cities and organizations across King County. 

  • Services: Violence Interruption, Outreach, Case Management Service Navigation 
  • Phone: 206-749-7550

Additional King County programs

Lock It Up Program

King County's Lock It Up program mission is to promote safety in our communities by increasing safe firearm storage.

For more information, visit Lock It Up. 

Care & Closure 

Care & Closure is King County’s initiative to center youth, care, and connection and reduce the harms of the punitive system in which we currently operate as the Executive moves to close the youth detention center. King County Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) leads the community-centered process to identify community-based alternatives to youth incarceration and oversee community engagement to create a roadmap that supports the health of young people and their healing, accountability, and community safety.

Learn more on the Care & closure website and sign up for email updates.

Additional community programs

Basic needs

Emotional and mental health

  • Children's Crisis Outreach Response System (CCORS), King County Dept. of Community and Human Services
    CCORS helps families achieve stability, helps prevent future crises, and helps children remain in their home.
  • Medication for Opioid Use Disorder program for youth ages 12-25:
    This program is run by Ryther through a partnership with Kaiser Permanente. This program is designed to address the specific needs of young people who are struggling with substance use disorders, particularly opioid use disorder. The primary purpose of these programs is to provide young people with access to evidence-based treatments that can help them overcome their addiction and achieve recovery. Ryther works in partnership with Kaiser Permanente and YouthCare. Kaiser staff prescribe medication and YouthCare facilities connect clients to Ryther. Ryther provides engagement, intensive case management, and therapy.
  • REBUILD
    Launched in January of 2022, REBUILD connects formerly incarcerated individuals of color to culturally competent therapists. Our Therapist connectors (including formerly incarcerated people and people who have lived experiences with mental health challenges) assist in matching formerly incarcerated and injustice-involved individuals with therapists of color. This assistance includes finding and vetting therapists, setting up appointments, facilitating the payment process, and paying for up to 10 sessions of therapy for some.
  • Therapy Fund Foundation
    Our mission is to eliminate barriers to Black healing for those who have been historically excluded throughout the diaspora, by providing mental health education, advocacy, and therapeutic services at no cost to the client, that address those suffering from racial trauma, anxiety, depression, and other ailments due to systemic oppression, economic suffering, and intergenerational trauma that has not been addressed in the past.
  • Youth Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Next Day Appointments (NDA) for mental health and substance use disorder:
    The SUD NDA is a new system this year and there are 10 youth appointments available per week Monday to Friday. King County offers Next Day Appointments (NDAs) to youth and adults experiencing mental health (MH) and substance use disorder (SUD) crises who are not currently enrolled and/or engaged in publicly funded behavioral health treatment services. Crisis is defined by the youth and family.
    • To schedule an appointment: The practitioner, a parent, or the youth may call the Washington Recovery Helpline at 866-789-1511 to schedule. (Please note the referral source when possible)

Individual programs

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