Bakersfield considers creating office of violence prevention

october 2—Life for Jarvis Naff Jr. was looking good.

He became a father in November 2021, and, at the young age of 26, he was a homeowner. Always a hard worker while growing up in Bakersfield, he focused his labor in the oil fields.

But on Easter Sunday this year, he was fatally shot — multiple times, said the Kern County coroner’s office.

“They gunned him down,” said Holanda Naff, Jarvis’ mother. “And, left.”

Senseless violence plaguing Kern County isn’t a secret: For five consecutive years, the state Attorney General’s Office has ranked Kern as having the highest homicide rate among California counties.

The city of Bakersfield plans to expand work now underway to address violent crime, possibly by creating an office of violence prevention, a step taken by other cities across the nation to stop people like Jarvis Naff dying too young.

Bakersfield Police Department Sgt. Mike Gerrity confirmed police are still investigating Naff’s death at the 8600 block of Avila Street

“I can’t even explain what it’s like (to lose a child) — honestly you can’t,” Holanda Naff said. “It’s the worst feeling ever. The worst, worst, worst.”

OFFICE OF VIOLENCE PREVENTION

The city of Bakersfield will spend $6.2 million, from a combination of state and city sources, on efforts to prevent youth involvement in gang violence during the next three years. It plans to partner with community-based organizations, Stay Focused Ministries, Kern Community Superintendent of Schools and the Henrietta Weill Institute after receiving a $3.1 million grant this summer as part of the California Violence and Intervention Program.

It’s this work and the potential of receiving more grants to fund additional programs that could lead to the creation of the office of violence prevention, City Manager Christian Clegg said in a phone interview.

“When we reach the right … critical mass of programs that would fit within an office, that’s the timing that we would create an office of violence prevention,” Clegg added.

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Prevention efforts currently underground include identifying youth, from elementary school age through high school, who are at risk of becoming involved in violence. Counseling becomes an option, along with signing up for sports and receiving a mentor to guide the youth away from gang influences.

Clegg said additional work the city may do includes partnering with additional schools and the Boys & Girls Clubs for the purpose of early intervention. Bakersfield may also try to reduce crime by working with neighborhood-based groups, he added. Getting grants to fund these steps could lead to the office’s creation.

The city manager noted about $500,000 of Measure N money is devoted to violence prevention. City staff are examining different programs throughout the state to determine how best to spend those dollars.

Funding for the office would primarily flow from Measure N sales tax revenue, state-funded grants and the American Rescue Plan Act, he noted.

Clegg, who started an office of violence prevention when he worked previously at the city of Stockton, wrote in an email he’s been looking to create this space since he started in 2020, but it’s been a question of timing, capacity and prioritization.

“As Bakersfield continues to grow, the urban challenges we are facing, and are likely to face in the future, require us to respond and organize differently than we have in the past,” Clegg continued. He has previously noted Bakersfield has a lower per capita crime rate than other cities in the county.

Having an office dedicated to stopping violence gives people involved in reducing crime a place to direct their ideas, Clegg added. It shows outside forces Bakersfield is serious about stopping crime, he said, and may lead to grant awards while ensuring work is continued instead of just running its course.

Holanda Naff credits Wesley Davis, founder of the Wendale Davis Foundation and a partner of the city of Bakersfield, for lifting her out of depression when he offered her a job to mentor kids.

She tells her mentees stories about her son and what happened to him in hopes of changing their mind about gangs.

“I just wish that these kids would understand how they crushed up families when they take away our loved ones,” Naff said.

The Rev. Oscar Anthony, a pastor at St. Peter Restoration Community Christian Ministries, said he supports the city establishing an office of violence prevention. He applauded the city and police department for their work.

Preventive measures — education coupled with interventions like job training and mentoring — are key to ensuring violence decreases across the city, Anthony added.

But some advocates raised concerns about the city’s methods. They called the efforts repetitive and shown not to work.

Nadine Escalante, a community policing advocate, said this work doesn’t address the root cause of younger kids getting involved in gangs. She took issue with selecting young children for mentoring simply because of where they live or who their parents are.

The city should engage community members, Escalante added, to gather input on spending.

Walter Williams, founder of the Bakersfield Policing Community Team, a group of community members who meet monthly with the BPD to discuss concerns, echoed similar concerns. He added that mentoring doesn’t always go far enough for these children.

They need someone to track them and help them while they are still young, he said, to ensure they get job training and guidance until they begin their career. That continuity will ensure kids will stay out of trouble.

“You gotta walk into the lion’s den to help these kids,” Williams added.

You can reach Ishani Desai at 661-395-7417. You can also follow her at @_ishanidesai on Twitter.

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