MetroHealth outlines regional violence-prevention plan and Stand Up SA; council asks for clearer ROI and data links
June 25, 2026 | San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas
This article was created by AI summarizing key points discussed. AI makes mistakes, so for full details and context, please refer to the video of the full meeting. Please report any errors so we can fix them. Report an error »
MetroHealth officials briefed the San Antonio Community Health Committee on June 25 on the Regional Violence Prevention Strategic Plan (2024–2028) and the Stand Up SA community-violence-intervention program, describing program activities, budgets and early performance indicators.
Erica Haller Stevenson, administrator for violence prevention at MetroHealth, said the department’s current violence-prevention portfolio has a fiscal-year budget of $11,500,000, with roughly three-quarters from the city general fund, about 10% from a Medicaid waiver and 14% from a CDC grant. She said about two-thirds of the funds are dedicated to domestic-violence programs, Stand Up SA accounts for roughly 17% of the portfolio, and Triple P (a parenting program for child-abuse prevention) accounts for about 5%.
“The work we do frames violence as a public-health issue,” Stevenson said. She cited local figures from 2024 and 2025, including SAPD’s report of 126 homicides in 2024, a Bexar County point-in-time count that found 16% of people experiencing homelessness in San Antonio were survivors of domestic violence, and more than 3,000 child-abuse and neglect cases confirmed by child protective services in Bexar County. On program outcomes, Stevenson said MetroHealth’s gun-violence-intervention program, Stand Up SA, “interrupted nearly 500 violent conflicts in fiscal year 2025,” and that citywide comparisons of five public-health buckets (shootings, assaults, adult victimization, minor victimization and homicides) show declines from 2022 to 2025 ranging from about 6% (assaults) to roughly 46% (shootings), with a 56% decrease reported for homicides.
Stevenson and Dr. Jacob (MetroHealth) cautioned against drawing direct causal links between the plan and those declines. “We can’t do a direct statistical link between the things we have done and these results,” Stevenson said, noting that SAPD’s hot-spot and problem-oriented place-based policing strategies were implemented in roughly the same timeframe as MetroHealth’s plan.
The Stand Up SA program, which MetroHealth said began in 2015 and expanded in 2022, follows the Cure Violence model and deploys staff with lived experience as credible messengers to detect and mediate conflicts, mentor people at high risk and organize community engagement. Stevenson described two 2024 expansions: hospital-based notification partnerships with level-1 trauma centers (BAMC and University Hospital) to respond to gunshot-wound patients to reduce retaliation, and work with the Bexar County Juvenile Correctional Treatment Center for mentoring and reentry support.
Public comment came from Roger Garza, Texas state director for Giffords, who urged creation of a centralized, robust Office of Violence Prevention and sustained investment in evidence-informed community strategies such as hospital-based violence-intervention programs, street outreach and case management.
Committee members generally praised the approach but pressed MetroHealth for clearer outcome attribution and value-for-money data. Councilman White asked whether reported crime reductions reflect the department’s programs or increased police presence, saying, “Are we spending our money right?” MetroHealth replied that its strategies are evidence-based but that rigorous, experimental research to measure per-dollar effects across the whole city is currently limited. Jessica Dovolino from the Department of Human Services provided a delegate-agency funding snapshot, saying council investment of roughly $1,200,000 supports six domestic-violence agencies and seven programs serving about 2,300 people annually; MetroHealth added that $1.2 million of the department’s funding pie comes from the Medicaid waiver and is primarily allocated to Stand Up SA.
Council members also sought more detail on access for immigrants and veterans, formal referral pathways to employment programs such as Ready to Work, and whether the department could produce neighborhood-level results. MetroHealth said the plan includes attention to vulnerable populations and that staff are familiar with Ready to Work referrals though an automated referral system does not yet exist. The presenters acknowledged that limited grant funding has constrained the department’s ability to hire a dedicated data-and-evaluation staffer to centralize data, produce network maps and run more robust attribution analyses.
Stevenson described a practical obstacle to school-based prevention: she said state-level restrictions mean “no curriculum may be added to any school in Texas without the governor’s office express approval,” so the department is pursuing staff training and after-school pilots as alternatives to classroom curricula.
MetroHealth said next steps include continued grant-seeking, monitoring partners’ implementation of the plan, further evaluation where possible, and consultation with city leadership on the plan’s next phase. The committee thanked the presenters and adjourned at 11:12 a.m.
Erica Haller Stevenson, administrator for violence prevention at MetroHealth, said the department’s current violence-prevention portfolio has a fiscal-year budget of $11,500,000, with roughly three-quarters from the city general fund, about 10% from a Medicaid waiver and 14% from a CDC grant. She said about two-thirds of the funds are dedicated to domestic-violence programs, Stand Up SA accounts for roughly 17% of the portfolio, and Triple P (a parenting program for child-abuse prevention) accounts for about 5%.
“The work we do frames violence as a public-health issue,” Stevenson said. She cited local figures from 2024 and 2025, including SAPD’s report of 126 homicides in 2024, a Bexar County point-in-time count that found 16% of people experiencing homelessness in San Antonio were survivors of domestic violence, and more than 3,000 child-abuse and neglect cases confirmed by child protective services in Bexar County. On program outcomes, Stevenson said MetroHealth’s gun-violence-intervention program, Stand Up SA, “interrupted nearly 500 violent conflicts in fiscal year 2025,” and that citywide comparisons of five public-health buckets (shootings, assaults, adult victimization, minor victimization and homicides) show declines from 2022 to 2025 ranging from about 6% (assaults) to roughly 46% (shootings), with a 56% decrease reported for homicides.
Stevenson and Dr. Jacob (MetroHealth) cautioned against drawing direct causal links between the plan and those declines. “We can’t do a direct statistical link between the things we have done and these results,” Stevenson said, noting that SAPD’s hot-spot and problem-oriented place-based policing strategies were implemented in roughly the same timeframe as MetroHealth’s plan.
The Stand Up SA program, which MetroHealth said began in 2015 and expanded in 2022, follows the Cure Violence model and deploys staff with lived experience as credible messengers to detect and mediate conflicts, mentor people at high risk and organize community engagement. Stevenson described two 2024 expansions: hospital-based notification partnerships with level-1 trauma centers (BAMC and University Hospital) to respond to gunshot-wound patients to reduce retaliation, and work with the Bexar County Juvenile Correctional Treatment Center for mentoring and reentry support.
Public comment came from Roger Garza, Texas state director for Giffords, who urged creation of a centralized, robust Office of Violence Prevention and sustained investment in evidence-informed community strategies such as hospital-based violence-intervention programs, street outreach and case management.
Committee members generally praised the approach but pressed MetroHealth for clearer outcome attribution and value-for-money data. Councilman White asked whether reported crime reductions reflect the department’s programs or increased police presence, saying, “Are we spending our money right?” MetroHealth replied that its strategies are evidence-based but that rigorous, experimental research to measure per-dollar effects across the whole city is currently limited. Jessica Dovolino from the Department of Human Services provided a delegate-agency funding snapshot, saying council investment of roughly $1,200,000 supports six domestic-violence agencies and seven programs serving about 2,300 people annually; MetroHealth added that $1.2 million of the department’s funding pie comes from the Medicaid waiver and is primarily allocated to Stand Up SA.
Council members also sought more detail on access for immigrants and veterans, formal referral pathways to employment programs such as Ready to Work, and whether the department could produce neighborhood-level results. MetroHealth said the plan includes attention to vulnerable populations and that staff are familiar with Ready to Work referrals though an automated referral system does not yet exist. The presenters acknowledged that limited grant funding has constrained the department’s ability to hire a dedicated data-and-evaluation staffer to centralize data, produce network maps and run more robust attribution analyses.
Stevenson described a practical obstacle to school-based prevention: she said state-level restrictions mean “no curriculum may be added to any school in Texas without the governor’s office express approval,” so the department is pursuing staff training and after-school pilots as alternatives to classroom curricula.
MetroHealth said next steps include continued grant-seeking, monitoring partners’ implementation of the plan, further evaluation where possible, and consultation with city leadership on the plan’s next phase. The committee thanked the presenters and adjourned at 11:12 a.m.
View the Full Meeting & All Its Details
This article offers just a summary. Unlock complete video, transcripts, and insights as a Founder Member.
✓
Watch full, unedited meeting videos
✓
Search every word spoken in unlimited transcripts
✓
AI summaries & real-time alerts (all government levels)
✓
Permanent access to expanding government content
30-day money-back guarantee
