Our Work

The Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) is dedicated to addressing the impacts of violence, which harm both individual and community health. OVP is housed within the Alameda County Public Health Department and serves to promote peaceful families and communities. OVP is one of only a dozen county-level Offices of Violence Prevention in the United States.

OVP works in the following areas:

• Partners with Violence Intervention and Prevention organizations: OVP provides funding and technical assistance to nonprofit programs that prevent violence and support healing within our communities. As of 2025, OVP has allocated $6.2 million to support over 19 community-based programs countywide.
• Convenes stakeholders: OVP brings together public safety and health agencies, and community leaders to align violence reduction strategies across the county. OVP also hosted Best Practices Convenings with community-based partners and collaborated with public safety agencies in inter-agency convenings and workgroups.
• Expands Alameda County Health capacity: OVP partners with departments across Alameda County Health to enhance strategies to prevent, intervene, and reduce the impacts of violence. OVP collaborates with the Alameda County Behavioral Health Department, Healthy Schools and Communities, and hosts a Narrative Change Workgroup.
• Implements the Community Health Improvement Plan: OVP leads “Promoting Peaceful Families & Communities,” one of three priority areas for Alameda County’s Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP). Through CHIP convenings with community partners we plan to expand the scope of Alameda County’s Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programs (HVIPs). For more information about the CHIP, please check out the 2023-2025 Community Health Improvement Plan. 

• Data collection: OVP works with public agencies and community partners to collect and share data, identify risk factors, and inform evidence-based interventions strategies. OVP is committed to enhancing data collection and analysis to track violence and its impacts across Alameda County.
• Narrative change: OVP works to shift the focus on violence as a public health issue rather than strictly an individual issue. OVP works to communicate how economic and social conditions within neighborhoods increase the risk of violence.
• Best practices: OVP hosts Advancing Best Practices convenings to promote collaboration and knowledge-sharing among community violence intervention and prevention service providers. These convenings lead to a more coordinated approach to addressing violence across Alameda County.
• Policy advocacy: OVP remains committed to supporting community violence intervention and prevention programs. OVP engages in advocacy to advance policies and practices that address the root causes of violence and firearm access.