爱德华Lempinen, 正规欧洲杯买球网站伯克利分校
![Photo illustration showing young women in Oakland](/sites/default/files/styles/article_default_banner/public/FFPI_Oakland_woman_graphic_5aa02fc7-0a43-4a1a-bf71-7d101449184c-prv.jpg?h=e961bbc5&itok=oEGpKtZr)
安妮特·米勒(Annette Miller)一生中大部分时间都住在西奥克兰的一栋两层隔板房子里, 在过去的几十年里,她目睹了她所在社区的命运起起落落. 但这里激增的暴力事件给个人带来了毁灭性的影响:一个儿子被谋杀, another son shot in the head and permanently disabled.
It seems impossible, but Miller has built strength from these tragedies, 她成为了一名社区领袖和教育家,因她的志愿工作而受到尊敬. 所以,当她被邀请参加一个新颖的社区安全项目由 实验室的可能性 at 正规欧洲杯买球网站伯克利分校, she embraced the opportunity.
![Annette Miller stands on a sidewalk in front of her West Oakland home](/sites/default/files/2024-04/Annette_Miller_oakland_FFPI.jpg)
“When I got involved in safety in our community, it was 所有 around losing a child to gun violence,” she said in a recent interview on her front porch. “它来自于理解你孩子的价值,以及我们社区的痛苦.
“我的主要关注点是确保社区获得舒适和安全的机会. When people come to me, I’m educating them on getting crosswalks, keeping the parks clean so kids and people can come out and enjoy the space, working with the seniors.”
Miller’s approach closely par所有els the strategy envisioned by the Firsthand Framework for Policy Innovation, a program launched by the 实验室的可能性. 在奥克兰一些问题最严重的社区的数十个焦点小组和会议上, 该项目不仅关注警察巡逻和逮捕率,还了解居民自己对安全和保障的看法.
“从根本上, 我们的想法是,最接近社会问题的人拥有独特的专业知识,我们可以利用这些专业知识来解决问题,艾米说。. Lerman, the lab’s executive director. “当我们不把他们包括在如何理解他们面临的问题的对话中时, or how to solve those problems, we're re所有y losing this incredible, rich source of 知道ledge that comes from their everyday lived experience.”
勒曼成立了可能性实验室,作为一个由政策研究人员和实践者组成的多学科团队,他们与政府和社区合作伙伴一起开发和测试数据驱动的政策理念,为公众利益服务.
The Firsthand Framework project started three years ago, 这是勒曼和她在伯克利的政治学同学内奥米·列维的心血结晶, 现在是圣克拉拉大学的副教授,也是可能性实验室的社区参与研究主任. Drawing on ideas developed in faraway war zones, and working with 所有ied community groups and Oakland’s Department of Violence Prevention, they are conducting an ambitious exercise in grassroots democracy.
它基于一个看似简单的问题:怎样才能让你在你的社区里感到安全?
当地居民告诉伯克利研究人员的是个别的公共安全问题——帮派暴力或卖淫, 例如 — have complex dynamics, and addressing them might involve not just policing, but also addressing poverty, 教育, mental 健康 and other areas.
现在的挑战是调整这种认识,以制定最有效的公共安全政策.
Violence intrudes on a lush green park
One of the core partners in the 实验室的可能性 project is Trybe, an Oakland non-profit. 在灰色地带, blustery late-winter afternoon, Trybe Executive Director 安德鲁公园 and his colleague, 赫克托耳克鲁兹, 他们的工作重点是照看四块倾斜的方形绿地吗.
![赫克托耳克鲁兹 and 安德鲁公园 look at camera wearing cool weather clothing, standing under a pergola at a park](/sites/default/files/2024-04/Hector_Cruz_Andrew_Park_Trybe_FFPI.jpg)
This is San Antonio Park, Trybe’s base of operations. 在旧网球场附近的临时帐篷和灰色集装箱中, staffers and volunteers distribute food, provide a safe play space for kids, hold cultural events for the surrounding community. They help out neighbors who need housing or medical services.
But the park is also a flashpoint for gang rivalries and, sometimes, violence. Park and Cruz worry over gang tags sprayed onto trees and garbage bins. 就在前一天, 克鲁兹解释说, 在公园里发生了一场危险升级的打斗,于是请来了几名“暴力干扰者”.
“We have 500 shootings a year in Oakland,Park说。, 拥有伯克利研究生神学联合会的博士学位. “That happens because people are desperate and they're — you 知道, it's 疯狂的 to actu所有y pull the trigger on somebody. 这恰恰说明了我们所处的世界末日状态有多严重,以及我们之间是多么的脱节.”
下山, in a neighborhood 知道n as Little Saigon, 简·阮(Chien Nguyen)站在他在克林顿公园(Clinton Park)边上开的咖啡馆前. But the neighborhood’s 健康 has declined sharply, 和阮, after eight years of hard work, recently closed his doors.
![Amy Lerman smiles at camera standing in front of a brick w所有](/sites/default/files/2024-04/Amy_Lerman_Possibility_Lab_750x500.jpg)
有一个无家可归的人坐在门口,附近的街道上排列着无家可归者的帐篷. A few days ago, Nguyen helped a woman who had given birth in one of the tents. The city park across the street is in a state of extreme neglect. It’s been forever since he saw children playing there.
向西走几个街区的国际大道(International Boulevard)因露天卖淫而臭名昭著. Even on a cold late-winter afternoon, women are standing on corners, 在商店前面, 征求贸易. Nguyen深感担忧的是,开车接送孩子往返附近富兰克林小学的父母不得不经过这样令人震惊的场景.
Park和Nguyen都看到了类似的情况:地方政府甚至没有资源提供基本的服务,比如青年项目或对无家可归者的支持. Community groups who try to fill the gaps are constantly battling for funds.
这, 他们说, 是可能性实验室项目的关键属性之一:它通过帮助建立联系,赋予居民和社区倡导者权力.
The murder of George Floyd, and the urgent c所有 for change
这并不是第一个进入奥克兰社区寻找数据的大学研究团队. 问米勒, ask Park — usu所有y the academics parachute in, gather what they need, and disappear back to campus. 因此,当可能性实验室在2021年年中开始访问奥克兰社区时, the team was met with skepticism.
From the start, though, project researchers worked to be different.
The inspiration, Lerman explained, came from Everyday Peace Indicators, a U.S. nonprofit that works in overseas communities destabilized by violent conflict. The goal is to understand what residents want, and to work from the grassroots up to build a vision for peace.
The Firsthand Framework emerged from a two-year statewide project c所有ed 加州100, where Lerman served as director of innovation. 2020年5月,乔治·弗洛伊德(George Floyd)被警察谋杀,每个人都记忆犹新, and organizers were looking for ways to innovate a better future for the state. As a professor at Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, her research has focused on crime, violence and justice.
奥克兰的第一手框架项目“是一种认识到黑人的命也重要的对话和警察改革对话确实是由这些社区和社区组织领导的方式,勒曼解释道. “他们呼吁对他们在自己的社区和日常生活中看到的犯罪和暴力做出非常不同的反应.”
People don’t want conventional answers to crime and violence
At first glance, the Firsthand Framework approach is 所有 about data. 莱维, 勒曼和他的同事们一直在寻找一种方法来定义和衡量公众的需求, 然后利用这些数据对奥克兰一些最困难的社区的安全产生可衡量的影响.
![拿俄米莱维 speaks at a conference](/sites/default/files/2024-04/Naomi_Levy_Possiblity_Lab.jpg)
拿俄米莱维, the 实验室的可能性's director of community engaged research, 在领导实验室与奥克兰居民和社区团体的工作中发挥了关键作用. 她获得了博士学位.D. at Berkeley and now is on the faculty at Santa Clara University.
After extensive talks, they set partnerships with Trybe and five other community organizations, plus the city’s Department of Violence Prevention (DVP). 这种混合帮助他们接触到奥克兰不同社区的一系列居民:不同种族和民族背景的人, refugees and immigrants, young women at risk of sexual exploitation, young people who had been incarcerated, 老年人和其他人.
Over the ensuing months, the project organized two dozen focus groups and a series of larger town h所有s. 数百名城市居民参与了一个过程,探索他们社区的痛苦和安全的具体指标.
在后台, the researchers were constantly working to build trust — and, in the view of West Oakland community leader Annette Miller, 工作得到了回报.
她怎么知道? Because people kept attending the meetings. Older residents, who might’ve been skeptical at the start, kept coming back. 众所周知,年轻人很难参与这种过程,但他们不断回来. Sometimes the older people met with the young people, a crucial nexus when the topic is neighborhood crime and safety.
“People re所有y got to trust you, and they re所有y got to 知道 you to believe in what you’re doing,” said Miller, who chairs a 居民委员会 in the Hoover-Foster neighborhood. “为了让他们进入你所代表的空间,西奥克兰的这一部分必须知道你在做工作.”
The practical wisdom that resides even in troubled communities
到2023年底, 组织者和合作伙伴从焦点小组和市政厅会议中提炼出近600个社区安全的“第一手指标”. In 最近的一份报告, 他们详细列出了一系列类别的指标:社区的物理空间, 例如, the well-being of young people, 健康, and economic security.
![Chien Nguyen站在他的餐厅外,表情严肃,不看镜头](/sites/default/files/2024-04/Chien_Nguyen_Oakland_FFPI.jpg)
Some of the indicators were negative, and some were positive. 在治安, 一些居民提到了警察对有色人种更具攻击性的趋势, or the number of people they 知道 who had been killed by police. 其他人则提到了警察在社区周围走动,了解住在那里的人.
Among communities of immigrants, 英语或西班牙语不流利的人觉得他们的孩子在学校受到歧视,这是一个消极的迹象. 但拥有共同起源的邻居互相照顾是一个积极的指标.
If there’s one main takeaway, said Trybe director Park, it’s that people want a holistic approach to safety and security.
Looking at the findings line by line, a reader might conclude, “ ‘Oh, we just need more police,’”朴槿惠说. “Well, people are 说 that, but that's not quite what they're actu所有y 说. 他们说他们需要一定程度的监管,这样疯狂的事情就会得到处理. But they don't want the resources 所有 去警察局,那里没有青少年,儿童,家庭和老年人.”
A potential impact far beyond Oakland
项目早期成功的消息迅速传开:萨克拉门托及其他地区的政治和政策领导人已经表达了兴趣. 一个新的 interactive website makes the data available to everyone.
勒曼说,实验室正在探索第一手框架在现实世界中的应用,以应对不同地区的复杂挑战:加州内陆帝国农场工人的健康指标. 首页lessness in the Bay Area. 俄勒冈州阿片类药物使用障碍和德克萨斯州精神健康危机的干预措施.
![丹妮拉·梅迪纳(丹妮拉麦地那)穿着运动夹克和白衬衫,双臂交叉在胸前,看着外面的镜头](/sites/default/files/2024-04/Daniela_Medina_Oakland_DVP_FFPI.jpg)
In Oakland, the work is in some senses just beginning. 第一手框架的合作伙伴正处于早期阶段,将居民的见解带入实际减少犯罪并让人们感到更安全的项目和城市政策中.
奥克兰预防暴力部(DVP)是这项工作的重要合作伙伴. 丹妮拉麦地那, who earned a Berkeley master’s degree in 2021, 是副局长吗?, and she sees broad possibilities for using the indicators.
DVP’s violence interrupters are similar to those at Trybe. They might intervene in an emergency, 麦地那解释, 但随后, 他们致力于让卷入冲突的人参与进来,引导他们走上一条更安全的道路. They may need resources or other types of support. That, she said, is where the Berkeley project comes in.
“我们正在与可能性实验室合作,不仅要确定如何将一些指标应用于解决方案, but also to pilot some of these ideas,麦地那说. “这些可能是非常小的事情,比如清理公园的一个特定角落,或者把年轻人聚集在一起.... Or there might be larger-scale solutions.”
But the partnership works on another level, too. 伯克利的专业知识和信誉可能有助于副总统和社区倡导者赢得奥克兰政治领导人的支持.
The gritty, grassroots work of democracy
In a moment of crisis for democracy in the U.S. 在世界范围内, “第一手框架”项目的伙伴关系和过程作为从头开始建立社区力量的实践而脱颖而出. But in Oakland neighborhoods that historic所有y have been disenfranchised, it’s a major advance that anyone in power wants to hear their voices.
梅迪纳说:“人们可能会认为,‘有人真的很关心我,愿意邀请我’。. “It may be one of the first times that they are involved in civic engagement, where they are getting to share what is actu所有y working for them, what's important to them.”
一些早期的信号表明,该项目所鼓励的民主价值观已经渗透到了街道层面.
In Little Saigon, Chien Nguyen works for Trybe now. With his café closed, 大多数时候,他都在街上捡垃圾,把城市提供的两个垃圾箱装满. But that’s also an exercise in meeting people, talking to them about neighborhood problems, 构建网络.
Trybe has agreed to take over management of the Clinton Park Community Center, and there are plans to make it a place that’s safe for kids. Nguyen和其他人, working through the San Antonio Neighborhood Coalition, 制定了一项关于性交易的拟议政策,并与奥克兰和阿拉米达县的官员会面,讨论实施情况. On Saturday, April 27, the coalition will host a community action on sex trafficking with local political leaders and 所有ies.
In West Oakland, Annette Miller is now working with DVP on 社交活动 专注于社区安全,她相信第一手框架确实可以带来改变. Policies and funding are essential, she says, but empowerment begins with hope.
“If you come out and you’re able to express yourself in a meeting,米勒说, “and if you let folks 知道 that something has been a concern of yours, you might see that it's not just you, but two or three other people had this same problem. So when you understand that, and you have that 同情,你的思想是自由的. Then you 知道 that you can accomplish more than what you thought before.”
![一名年轻男子穿着溅满污渍的连帽运动衫,站在钉在集装箱上的海报前](/sites/default/files/2024-04/FFPI_young_man_voting_outside_2.jpg)
在奥克兰的一次活动中,一位年轻人评估了一系列社区福祉的积极和消极指标,以及其他人对这些指标的排名.