San Francisco will pay people it deems as high-risk not to shoot people.
The program, known as the Dream Keeper Fellowship, will start in October and pay individuals $300 not to be involved in a shooting.
Sheryl Davis, executive director of the Human Rights Commission, said the program is not as "transactional" as some people might think. As in, here are a few dollars to not shoot someone.
"It's not necessarily as cut and dry as folks may think. It's not as transactional as, 'Here's a few dollars so that you don't do something bad,' but it really is about how you help us improve public safety in the neighborhood," Davis said, according to Newsweek.
Participants of the program will work with life coaches from the Street Violence Intervention Program. The program aims to develop these people as members of the community, while in turn improving the community.
"As you become better, your community benefits from that," Davis says.
The goal of the program is to root out the leading causes of crime, "which in so many ways are economic," Davis adds. "We need to be getting to the root causes of why some neighborhoods are safer than others."
Participants of the program could earn an additional $200 by working, going to school, and being a mediator for violent situations.
Davis believes, in the long term, the program will lead to safer communities. "These small investments can transform the lives of individuals, but they can also transform communities," she said.
The program relates similarly to one in neighboring Richmond, California, which reduced its gun violence by 55 percent, according to a study performed by the American Journal of Public Health in 2019.
In 2021, gun violence in San Francisco close to doubled, when 119 gun violence victims were reported. Compare that to 2020, when there were only 58 reports of gun violence victims.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.