What's at stake?
Violent crime has spiked several times in recent months. Last year around this time, the City of Fresno reported seven total homicides. But in the first six months of 2026, police say, the city has already seen 12 homicides.
As local government agencies and leaders scramble to fill in the gaps left in the wake of Trump Administration cuts, critical local programs are struggling to stay afloat long-term.
With key budget hearings underway at Fresno City Hall this week, the successful anti-violence program, Advance Peace Fresno, has enough money to keep the lights until around Halloween, but whether the program can survive long-term remains unclear.
The program, which has been credited with helping police cut gun violence and homicides almost in half, was among the intervention strategies that fell victim to the DOGE slash-and-burn era of the second Trump Administration.
The White House pulled a $2 million grant in 2025, the financial foundation for the Advance Peace program. In April, city leaders scrounged up about $250,000 to keep the program afloat in the short term, and several leaders, including Mayor Jerry Dyer, called the program a priority for the city to keep.
According to program leaders, Advance Peace mentors “operate in the space where law enforcement cannot.”
In a prepared statement, DeVone Boggan, who founded Advance Peace in the Bay Area more than a decade ago, said that means workers are inside “the social networks where conflicts are brewing, where pride, fear, trauma, and history collide. Staff build relationships strong enough to cool situations down before a trigger is pulled.”
“That is not soft work,” he added. “It is precise, dangerous, skilled public safety labor.”
Advance Peace frontline staffers, described in reports as “neighborhood change agents”, identify Fresno residents most likely to be involved in retaliatory gun violence and establish relationships with the individual, including helping to develop life plans, set personal goals and find constructive ways to remain safe.
Boggan said that, despite the program’s successes, there remains what he described as an “uncomfortable truth.”
“While Fresno has been one of the greatest beneficiaries of this partnership, Advance Peace Fresno has remained severely underfunded locally,” Boggan said.
Many local leaders acknowledge the program’s impressive numbers, including helping police reduce homicides to an all-time low last year, yet, permanent funding for the anti-violence project remains elusive.
Councilmember Miguel Arias on Monday told Fresnoland he intends to ask the council to “fully fund” Advance Peace — to the tune of about $750,000 — through the city’s cannabis revenues.
“Advance Peace has demonstrated that it can save lives that might otherwise be lost to senseless gun violence. By reducing shootings and fostering safer communities, the program delivers meaningful results,” Arias said in a statement to Fresnoland. “Our city would be well served to support and strengthen this initiative so it can continue to flourish and expand its positive impact.”
But it remains unclear if Arias can get the total support needed on the City Council this week to beef up the program’s funding.
Council President Nelson Esparza signaled support for the program in a text message to Fresnoland on Friday.
“I’ve been a strong supporter of this program since its inception here in Fresno,” Esparza said, “so I want to make sure they have the resources to continue succeeding.”
Messages to other councilmembers and Mayor Jerry Dyer’s office were not immediately returned Monday.
Program Manager Aaron Foster said the progress that has been building in recent years is starting to slip, with fewer mentors and fewer mentors of color available to intervene.
“We don’t know how much (the city) is going to value it,” Foster told Fresnoland this week. “We’re already starting to be more reactive instead of being more proactive.”
Foster noted the program has lost more than half of its staff since their funding was cut off.
And violent crime has spiked several times in recent months. Last year around this time, the City of Fresno reported seven total homicides. But in the first six months of 2026, the city has already seen 12 homicides, Fresno police Lt. Larry Bowlan said Monday.
Arias said he expected the Advance Peace debate to emerge Friday during the final day of city budget hearings.
And anti-violence programs are far from the only safety-net efforts recently abandoned by the federal government and local-area agencies aren’t able to fill in all of the gaps.
Across town, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors has begun hosting a short string of town-hall style meetings to raise awareness, and lower expectations, on what and where the local-level agencies can fill in the gaps.
Federal funding cuts are also expected to dramatically shift the landscape for programs like CalFresh and Medi-Cal. Additionally, on Monday, Fresno city leaders rolled out a new multi-million-dollar proposal to help address another longstanding, systemic issue — childcare in California’s fifth-largest city.
