Aurora youth violence prevention program promising, but funding is a worry

Header: Success shown in the SAVE program while money is tight for the city

AURORA | A city project focusing on reducing youth violence in the city is showing success, but city lawmakers are looking to possibly cut some of the program’s funding. 

“What we’re seeing is this program is working,” said Jessica Prosser, director of the city’s housing and community services for the City of Aurora. 

The program allocates 1% of marijuana sales tax to fund community service agencies and programs directly related to youth violence prevention to reduce youth violence. The money goes toward funding a variety of local anti-violence programs run by non-profit agencies and Aurora’s two school districts.

City council members saw a presentation on the program’s progress during the study session on Monday. They were asked to extend the sunset clause for the marijuana fund to continue supporting the program for the next five years.

Aurora’s Youth Violence Prevention Program was established in 2021 and initially focused on building coalitions, breaking down service silos and supporting community-based organizations in engaging youth in services, according to staff information.  

In September 2023, the program evolved to concentrate its efforts on the city’s focused deterrence strategy, Aurora SAVE. Now, the program channels the funding into community service agencies focused on preventing youth violence, offering case management, therapy, mentorship and job training to at-risk youth and families.

“The overarching goal of Aurora SAVE is to ensure that individuals in our community who are at risk of becoming victims or perpetrators of gun violence remain alive, safe, and free from incarceration,” staff information said. 

Data presented to the city council showed that gun-related fatalities and injuries have steadily dropped since the program’s launch. Fatal shootings fell from 32 in 2023 to 18 so far in 2025, while non-fatal shootings dropped from 133 to 42. 

About 49% of participants have accepted some level of service through SAVE partners, according to staff.

“We’ve done 265 notifications and 185 accepted services, or about 49% acceptance rate, which is good for a program where we’re offering services, and they’re staying engaged, and they’re not reoffending,” Prosser said.

The different organizations the city works with include:

• JusticeWorks Youth Care is where members of the youth brought into the justice system receive their initial assessment to develop an appropriate case management plan. They also receive an outcomes-focused case management for the individual and family.

• Hazelbrook Community Center, which provides substance abuse services, prosocial activities such as boxing and fitness, and mentorship that focuses on recovery.

• The Road Called STRATE and STRATE Teen Talks, which are psychoeducational groups for youth, provide mental health screenings and workforce development.

• Struggle of Love Foundation, which provides violence-intervention and interruption, a 24-hour SAVE hotline and resource navigation.
• Life-Line Colorado, which provides violence interruption and incident response and follow-up resources and services
  

City staff said the collaboration between law enforcement and service providers has led to more proactive outreach and fewer retaliatory shootings.

“They’re all a little bit different with mental health, therapy, violence interruption, workforce development, those types of things, and those are the only ones we’re working with now, rather than having a myriad of 12 to 20,” Prosser said. 

If the funding continues, SAVE will expand to include critical incident response for real-time violence interruption and prevention of retaliatory incidents. It will also streamline case management and resource navigation services for SAVE candidates and their families, and conduct data and program evaluation to understand intervention effects, according to staff information.

Council members Françoise Bergan, Danielle Jurinsky and Stephany Hancock all had different issues with budgeting aspects of the program. 

Bergan said she thought there was a lot of overlap and that the city didn’t need to spend so much on city employees who might duplicate the programs they are working with. She also had issues with paying the University of Colorado for data research and evaluation, thinking that someone internally might have already conducted the same data. Hancock said she thought the city was spending too much money on the small number of students it was serving. Jurinsky did not like how much money was being given to the local school districts.

Aurora Public Schools, Cherry Creek School District and the Juvenile Assessment Center each receive $50,000, which costs the city $150,000 in total. Overall, the city spends approximately $1.1 million for various operating expenses, specialty employees, data and contracts. The sum also included the amount of money given to the schools. 

“It seems like the balance of the kids that are supposedly being helped through this, it’s hard for me to reconcile those two things with the amount of money we’re spending administratively to the number of kids,” Hancock said. 

Some of the possible proposals the council members made for funding included cutting many employees to avoid overlap, which Prosser said did not exist between the different employees. 

“I’m getting calls all the time from parents that are dealing with violence in Aurora Public Schools and Cherry Creek Public School District,” Councilmember Danille Jurinsky said. “And obviously, we have no authority, no jurisdiction, but their approach currently, and how they are handling violence in their school, how they are handling violent juvenile offenders. I am completely appalled by.”

Jurinsky suggested that instead of sending the money to the schools, the funding currently allocated to them could be used for school resource officers or to fund programs planned through the police department that the city could support. She also suggested bringing the police department’s Five-O Trailer out for events and programs planned through the police department. 

This was suggested because the city also receives nearly $2 million in grant funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance-Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative Grant, specifically for youth violence. The grant ends in late 2027, according to city information. 

Mayor Mike Coffman. mentioned the good work the police department is doing with their so-called “call-ins.” He encouraged the other council members to sit in on one. 

“A call in where one of these individuals who’s been targeted as being somebody who has a propensity for gun violence is in the room with law enforcement and with some of our service providers, where they provided an off ramp to say, ‘hey, we can help you, but if you’re not going to take the off ramp, we’re going to be pretty tough on you,” Coffman said. “And I think they’re very helpful,” 

Prosser said she would return with more information in January.