How Youth Alive Helps Survivors of Violence and Families of Homicide Victims

Youth Alive responds to violence on two immediate fronts: at the hospital bedside and in the aftermath of a homicide. Its Caught in the Crossfire program places Intervention Specialists with survivors of violence while they are still hospitalized, providing practical and logistical services meant to support healing, discourage retaliation, and help survivors return to their communities. For families, the Khadafy Washington Project serves nearly 100% of families of Oakland homicide victims with financial, emotional, and practical support after a loss. A third service, Counseling Services, offers healing-centered individual and group counseling to people impacted by trauma and violence.

These are wraparound services, and per the organization, they are always free. Youth Alive describes itself as community-based — "not city government, and we're not the police" — which matters for how survivors and families are approached.

Immediate Support for Survivors of Violence

Caught in the Crossfire

The defining feature of this program is timing and location: Intervention Specialists meet survivors of violence at their hospital bedside. That setting shapes what the program can do — it reaches people in the first hours and days after an injury, when practical needs and retaliation risk are both acute.

The stated goals of the bedside work are to:

• Provide practical and logistical services that support healing
• Discourage retaliation
• Return survivors to their communities

If you are trying to understand what "practical and logistical services" means in practice, the program description does not itemize them. What it does make clear is the intended outcome: stabilization after a violent injury rather than a cycle of reprisal.

Counseling Services

Counseling is offered as healing-centered individual and group sessions for individuals impacted by trauma and violence. This is a separate track from the bedside intervention — it addresses the ongoing psychological aftermath rather than the immediate crisis, and it is open to people affected by trauma and violence, not only direct survivors.

Support for Families of Homicide Victims

Khadafy Washington Project

This program is the clearest answer to the question of what happens to families after a homicide in Oakland. Its scope is unusually broad: it serves nearly 100% of families of Oakland homicide victims.

The support is described in three categories:

The project is framed around "moving forward on your journey" — language that positions the family's own path as the reference point, rather than a fixed service checklist.

What These Programs Have in Common

Three features connect the survivor and family services:

1. They are crisis-timed. The bedside program operates during hospitalization; the Khadafy Washington Project operates in the aftermath of a homicide. Both intervene at the moment when needs are most concentrated.
2. They are free. Youth Alive states its wraparound services are always free.
3. They are community-based, not law enforcement. Youth Alive explicitly distinguishes itself from city government and the police, which affects whether survivors and families are willing to engage.

Where to Start

If you are a survivor of violence or a family member of a homicide victim in Oakland, the relevant entry points are:

• Hospitalized after a violent injury → Caught in the Crossfire
• Lost a family member to homicide in Oakland → Khadafy Washington Project
• Dealing with trauma or violence-related grief outside an acute crisis → Counseling Services

Each program has its own "Learn more" page on youthalive.org. The site does not publish eligibility criteria, intake steps, or contact details in the material reviewed here, so the program pages themselves are the place to confirm how to access each service.