Alive & Free Prescription

The Alive & Free Prescription is a violence prevention methodology developed by Dr. Joe Marshall, co-founder and Executive Director of Alive & Free, originally founded as Omega Boys Club of San Francisco in 1987. Today, the Alive & Free Prescription is at the forefront of the Alive & Free movement to keep young people alive and free by advancing understanding and replication of the method. The Alive & Free Prescription combines a public health approach and medical model for treating and preventing youth violence. The Alive & Free Prescription frames violence as a disease and youth who are at risk for or involved in violence as individuals infected with the germs of the disease of violence. The Alive & Free Prescription identifies the actions and symptomatic thinking that put young people at risk of violence (Commandments of Violence) and Rules for Living that mitigate against the onset of the disease. These strategies are based on the code and value system that youth most likely to be victims and/or perpetrators of violence live by.

The goal of the Alive & Free Prescription is to keep youth unharmed by violence and free from incarceration, and to provide youth with the support and opportunities to build positive lives that contribute to society.

Over 27 years of implementing and replicating the Alive & Free Prescription, Omega Boys Club has transformed the lives of more than 10,000 at-risk youth in over 18 cities across California, 10 U.S. cities outside California, and cities in South Africa, Thailand, and Canada. The program has taught 4,600 people how to use the Alive & Free Prescription in their work with youth, and 16 area schools have integrated the program into their curriculum. In 2008, the City and County of San Francisco formally adopted the Alive & Free Prescription as its violence prevention philosophy. In a report by the San Francisco Juvenile Justice System, Omega Boys Club was credited with contributing to a 73% reduction in California Youth Authority commitments during the 1980's. The program has been recognized as a best practice for youth violence prevention by many organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Surgeon General, the Sierra Health Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the American Legion Child Welfare Foundation.