U.S. attorney general Eric Holder was in Oakland today at Youth Uprising in East Oakland, touring their facility to better understand how youth services and support can effectively fight gang violence. His visit was triggered by a statement by President Obama that they will make preventing gang violence a priority. His hosts included Olis Simmons, the Center's Executive Director,Youth UpRising staffer Maya Dillard, Mayor Ron Dellums and a scary number of police officers, who basically had the place on lockdown.

"We believe that our work at Youth UpRising gives us an opportunity to deal with the young people who are most at risk of being perpetrators and victims of violence. We are  able through this facility to actually help train and employ them, create educational outcomes for them that are much more positive then they are now," Youth UpRising Director Maya Dillard said to the assembled media and guests.

Holder's visit follows his speech in Sacramento on Monday to the California Cities Gang Prevention Network about the Federal government's plans to award $3MM a year to 13 California cities, including Bay area cities Oakland, San Francisco, Richmond and San Jose.

Monday, Holder traveled to Sacramento to discuss strategies on how to impact and prevent youth violence and gang activity during a meeting of the California Cities Gang Prevention Network. The federal government is poised to fund $3 million a year to 13 designated California cities which includes Oakland, San Francisco, Richmond and San Jose, with the first funding being distributed in September. Youth Uprising has been a recipient of over $1.4 million dollars in funding from Measure Y, and additional money from City Council appropriations and from The California Endowment; presumably, some of this new funding will come their way.