Building A Future Without Gun Violence: California

At the age of 26, Michael Tubbs became the youngest Mayor of any major city in American history. As Mayor, Tubbs was lauded for his leadership and innovation. Under his stewardship, Stockton was named an “All-America City” in 2017 and 2018, saw a 40% drop in homicides in 2018 and 2019, led the state of California in the decline of officer involved shootings in 2019, was named the second most fiscally healthy city in California and one of the top most fiscally healthy cities in the nation and was featured in an HBO documentary film, Stockton on My Mind.

Tubbs raised over $20 million dollars to create the Stockton Scholars, a universal scholarship and mentorship program for Stockton students. He is the Founder and Chair of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income.

Tubbs has been named a fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics and The MIT Media Lab, a member of Fortune’s Top 40 under 40, a Forbes 30 under 30 All-star Alumni, the “Most Valuable Mayor” by The Nation, the 2021 Civic Leadership Award winner from The King Center, and 2019 New Frontier Award Winner from the JFK Library. Before taking the helm as Mayor, Tubbs served as a Councilmember for the City of Stockton District 6, was a high school educator, and a fellow for the Stanford Design School and the Emerson Collective.

The author of the memoir The Deeper the Roots, Tubbs currently serves as the Special Advisor to California Governor Gavin Newsom for Economic Mobility and is the founder of End Poverty in California (EPIC).

Anthony D. Smith is an organizer, a bridge builder, a believer in community, and a thought  leader. He currently serves as the executive director of Cities United, and under his leadership, the organization has partnered with 100’s of cities who are working to create safe, healthy, and hopeful communities for young Black men, boys, and their families.  

Before joining Cities United, Anthony led the Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods for Mayor Greg Fischer and the City of Louisville. Throughout his professional career he has made a priority of creating positive outcomes for youth and cultivating up and coming Black leaders. 

Anthony was born, raised and still lives in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife and family. Anthony earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, with a minor in Legal Studies from Northern Kentucky University.

Juan Avila is a chief operating officer at Garden Pathways, an organization that mentors youth and young adults through life-building services in Bakersfield, California. In this video, he shares the story of José, a man who turned away from gun violence to focus on fatherhood.

Since its founding in 1997, Garden Pathways has helped hundreds of Bakersfield residents and mobilized community transformation through its inside out model, which provides comprehensive mentoring services to individuals and families at risk of being affected by violence. Like many community violence intervention programs, Garden Pathways incorporates cognitive behavioral therapy techniques in its mentoring approach to help individuals identify and replace negative coping mechanisms and responses with positive strategies that improve personal and community wellness.

Born and raised in Bakersfield, Juan faced a choice after graduating from college in Los Angeles about whether or not he wanted to return home and give back to his community, which he recognized as being even more torn than it was when he grew up. Now 20 years into his career as a community builder, Juan is proud to be helping his Bakersfield community “become more vibrant and improve the quality of life of residents.”

Keycha Gallon is a passionate and goal-oriented Richmond native who loves working with people and developing bonds with different organizations that empower families and individuals. She constantly looks for opportunities to help, uplift, and empower people in different communities.

Gallon has been an employee of Kaiser for over 19 years, she is the treasurer and project coordinator for Motivated 2 Help Others and the founder of the non-profit, Keyz to the Future, a mentorship program exclusively for at-risk and underserved girls. She helped turn Motivated 2 Help Others from a vision into a thriving grassroots nonprofit that is helping a community rebuild itself through mentorship for youth, fitness programs, enrichment programs, and by providing resources for the unhoused and unemployed. Gallon spearheads a women’s group that meets every Monday, H.E.R. Worth, a group for women to share in their collective experiences and possibly help other women who are going through the same thing.

Gallon possesses an AA Degree in Sociology and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a Concentration on Human Resources in 2021. She is currently working on getting a Master’s in Business Administration with a concentration on Project Management. 

Gabriel currently serves as the policy & advocacy director for Youth ALIVE! (YA), a community-based organization in Oakland, California focused on preventing and helping people heal from violence. In building out Youth ALIVE!’s policy and advocacy work, Garcia seeks out the expertise of YA’s pioneering violence prevention professionals, as well as the stories of the agency’s youth and clients who have been directly impacted by violence, to develop policies that improve California’s ability to heal trauma survivors and treat violence like the public health crisis that it is. Garcia has also supported YA staff, clients, and youth to engage directly in the policymaking process to ensure those who are closest to the pain are driving policy conversations.

Fernando Rejón serves as executive director after building the Urban Peace agenda for over a decade. He leads UPI efforts to transform systems and the lives of individuals to create community peace and safety and end the devastating cycle of mass incarceration. 

In 2008, he began his work to build the Urban Peace Academy as a platform to train gang intervention/street outreach workers, law enforcement, community stakeholders, and public officials on implementing violence reduction strategies focused on redefining community safety and health. Over the years, he has trained thousands of leaders nationally on the role of gang intervention and the development of non-traditional community safety strategies. He has trained and advised law enforcement agencies across the country on creating safety and reducing violence through innovative policing strategies that increase public trust and leverage investment in building neighborhood-level leadership.  

In 2019, he co-created the National Street Outreach Partnership as a platform for frontline intervention organizations and advocates dedicated to shaping and strengthening the field of violence reduction to serve the most violence-impacted communities in the nation.  He has emerged as a national thought leader on addressing complex issues around neighborhood violence, policing, and policy development and has been recognized nationally and internationally as an example of how sustained investment in mission-driven safety strategies generate long-term transformative change. 

Rejón has extensive experience in program development, community-based research and analysis, training and leadership development, and organizing and coalition building.  He has worked as a counselor for youth on juvenile probation, organized for environmental justice in impacted communities of color, and worked to build bridges between Indigenous communities in México and organizers of color in the United States to fight for justice. 

He is a current and founding advisory board member of the National Gang Conference in Los Angeles and has presented at a number of universities such as UCLA, NYU Law School, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Cal State Northridge, and Claremont McKenna College on gangs, violence reduction, and non-adversarial policing strategies. He holds a B.A. in Sociology and Communication Studies from the University of San Diego, M.A. in Chican@ Studies from California State University, Northridge, and a certificate from the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Program for Non-Profit Leaders.

Refujio “Cuco” Rodriguez is the chief strategist & equity officer at Hope and Heal Fund. Prior to joining the fund, Rodriguez served as a program officer for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and was a member of the foundation’s Racial Equity and Community Engagement team. He was responsible for developing and coordinating strategic grantmaking activities aimed at addressing racial equity, community engagement, and nurturing opportunities for positive systemic change for historically marginalized communities and vulnerable children. Rodriguez also supported the development of a Racial Equity Leadership Curriculum for the W.K. Kellogg Fellowship Program and has led efforts to integrate racial equity principles into technology initiatives which included working on new collaborative platforms and developing a racial equity-focused grantee application.

Prior to joining the field of philanthropy, Rodriguez served as division chief and ethnic services manager with the Santa Barbara County Department of Behavioral Wellness, where he was responsible for the implementation of the new Mental Health Services Act (MHSA). Rodriguez also established Santa Barbara’s first Latino Mental Health Consumer and Family Advocacy Network in order to engage Latino stakeholders in the implementation of the MHSA.

Rodriguez also served as department director for Family and Youth Services with the Community Action Commission and has worked with communities on issues including teen pregnancy, reproductive health, youth violence, gang intervention, rites of passage facilitation, mental health, father involvement strategies, and community engagement. He has served as an adjunct faculty member for the Human Services Department at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California. Rodriguez has held various community service positions and served as the board chair of the National Compadres Network.

Rodriguez obtained a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering technology and a master’s degree in education with concentrations in counseling and guidance, both from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Glen Upshaw Sr has worked in the field of street outreach and violence interruption for close to 13 years. In 2022, Upshaw began working with Brady’s Combating Crime Guns team. Formerly incarcerated himself, Upshaw is committed to sharing with at-risk youth the lessons he learned as a young man. Upshaw is also founder of the group Men of Influence. Upshaw has won various awards and accolades over the past five years, including the "Neighborhood Champion" award in 2014 from the Oakland Police Foundation.