Oakland attributes a 6-decade low in homicides, in part, to life coaches

Experts say the low rate is due to program that identifies people who are most likely to get pulled into gang violence and pairs them with life coaches.

OAKLAND, Calif. — Young men at risk of succumbing to gang violence slump over tables in an Oakland church. With them are prosecutors, clergy and survivors of shootings determined to show them they have more to look forward to than incarceration, injury or death.

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The message is not one of punishment but of unceasing support. The men start to perk up.

“We’re going to talk about keeping you and those you love alive and free,” Jim Hopkins, emeritus pastor of Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, says he told the men who gather at his church. “If you put down the gun, start taking the (city’s) services, we’ll help you find another way.”