DC Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement

What DC Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement does

The DC Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE) is a District of Columbia government agency focused on reducing gun-related violence through community-based prevention and intervention. It was statutorily created by the Neighborhood Engagement Achieves Results Act of 2015 (passed March 2016) and operates under the executive authority of Mayor Muriel Bowser, consolidating the prior Safer, Stronger DC Community Partnerships Office and the Community Stabilization Program. ONSE's mission is to address gun violence through a public health and public safety framework rather than traditional policing, and it serves District residents aged 12-35 at risk of violence involvement, families affected by gun violence, and priority communities across Wards 1-8.

ONSE delivers its mandate through five core service lines: the Pathways Program (a transitional employment and nonclinical cognitive behavioral transformation program for young men aged 18-35, with nearly 560 alumni across 21 cohorts since 2018); the Violence Intervention Initiative (contracts with three community-based organizations covering Wards 1-5, 6-7, and 8 for violence interruption services); Family and Survivor Support; the People of Promise program (engaging individuals most likely to be involved in gun violence with alternatives to crime); and the OLA School-Based Initiative for youth ages 13-18. The agency also administers funding programs including the FY26 Gun Violence Prevention Mini-Grants and the Empowering Communities Through Innovative Violence Intervention (EC) Grant. ONSE operates from two offices — a Ward 7 headquarters opened in October 2017 and a Ward 5 satellite office opened in March 2024 — with 49 employees as of the most recent data.

ONSE does not operate as a technology company and has no proprietary technology stack, AI/ML capabilities, APIs, or commercial products. It is funded entirely through the District of Columbia's public budget allocation process plus targeted mayoral grants (e.g., a $250,000 Bowser Administration award in September 2024), and all services are delivered to District residents at no cost. The agency's go-to-market is community-led, coordinating with city agencies (Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, DC Department of Employment Services, DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services) and contracted community-based organizations, supplemented by DC government communications channels and direct field outreach.

Name

DC Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement

Legal name

Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement

Website

https://onse.dc.gov

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The DC Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE) is a District of Columbia government agency that reduces gun violence through community-based prevention, intervention, and survivor support programs serving at-risk residents aged 12-35 across priority wards.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Safety and Violence Prevention Services

NAICS

Individual and Family Services (6241)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Youth Justice, At-Risk Youth & Violence Prevention Nonprofits (BPAGADAM)

Keywords

• Gun violence prevention
• Violence intervention services
• Community-based programs
• Transitional employment programs
• Public safety services

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

ONSE is a DC government agency that coordinates community-based gun violence prevention, intervention, and survivor support programs for District residents. Its core offerings include the Pathways Program (transitional employment and cognitive behavioral transformation), the Violence Intervention Initiative (contracted violence interruption), Family and Survivor Support, the People of Promise program, and the OLA School-Based Initiative, plus grant funding for community-based violence prevention organizations.

Product overview

The Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE) is a DC government agency created by the Neighborhood Engagement Achieves Results Act of 2015, focused on building partnerships and implementing strategies to reduce gun-related violence in the District. ONSE operates as a service-oriented agency rather than a technology product company. The agency's portfolio consists of several core programs: the Pathways Program (a transitional employment and cognitive behavioral transformation program), the Violence Intervention Initiative (contracting with community-based organizations for violence interruption), Family and Survivor Support, the People of Promise program, and the OLA School-Based Initiative. ONSE also administers grant programs including the Gun Violence Prevention Mini-Grants and the Empowering Communities Through Innovative Violence Intervention Grant. The agency uses a public health approach combined with public safety tools to engage residents and prevent violence.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Pathways Program A transitional employment program designed to decrease participants' involvement in the criminal justice system and improve employment, education, and training outcomes for District residents aged 18-35. The program is a nonclinical cognitive behavioral transformation (CBT) program. Nearly 560 young men aged 18-35 have completed the Pathways Program to date.
• Violence Intervention Initiative ONSE contracts with three community-based organizations that cover priority communities in Wards 1-5, Wards 6-7, and Ward 8 to reduce violence through violence interruption strategies.
• Family and Survivor Support A division of ONSE that is part of the District's response to community violence, providing support services to families and survivors of violence.
• People of Promise A program focused on engaging with individuals most likely to be involved in gun violence and providing them with an alternative to crime.
• OLA - School Based Initiative School-based violence prevention and intervention programming as part of ONSE's public health approach to violence reduction in the District.
• ONSE FY26 Gun Violence Prevention Mini-Grants Funding opportunity supporting community-based programs that promote healing, gun violence prevention, and positive youth development for District residents ages 12-35.
• Empowering Communities Through Innovative Violence Intervention Grant Grant program supporting innovative violence intervention approaches in District communities.

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 560 young men aged 18-35 have completed the ONSE Pathways Program
• +1 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Private and Public Sector Employers (Pathways Program)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025The Pathways Program looks for private and public-sector partners who can host participants for subsidized work experience. Employers can sign up through an Employer Interest Form.
• Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency of DCcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018ONSE launched its first Pathways Cohort Class in 2018 in partnership with Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency of DC, along with other DC agencies. This partnership supports the transitional employment program for individuals involved with the criminal justice system.
• DC Department of Employment ServicescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Partnership with DC Department of Employment Services for the Pathways Program launched in 2018, supporting employment opportunities for program participants.
• DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation ServicescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Partnership with DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services for the Pathways Program launched in 2018, supporting youth rehabilitation through employment and training.
• Community-based Violence Intervention OrganizationscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018ONSE issued its first Violence Intervention contracts to three community-based organizations in 2018 to cover priority communities in Wards 1-5, Wards 6-7 and Ward 8 for violence interruption services.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Cities United: Cities United supports mayors and city leaders working to reduce gun violence affecting Black men and boys, paralleling ONSE's mission and policy framing but operating at a coalition level rather than direct service delivery.
• National Network for Safe Communities: NNSC promotes group violence intervention and other public-health-based violence reduction strategies adopted by ONSE, and it advises many U.S. cities on the same intervention approach.
• Cure Violence Global: Cure Violence Global is the founding organization behind the violence interrupter model that ONSE's VI Initiative adopts; it operates across multiple U.S. and international cities as a broader umbrella for this approach.

Direct peers

• Roca: Roca is a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that delivers cognitive behavioral therapy, workforce development, and reentry services to high-risk young men, closely mirroring the Pathways Program's CBT-plus-transitional-employment model.
• Baltimore Safe Streets: Safe Streets Baltimore is a city-run violence interruption and prevention program rooted in the Cure Violence model, structurally comparable to ONSE's Violence Intervention Initiative and its contracting of community-based organizations.
• NYC Crisis Management System (CMS) / NYC Cure Violence: New York City's Cure Violence/Crisis Management System uses violence interrupter and community-based intervention models to reduce gun violence, directly paralleling ONSE's Violence Intervention Initiative and Pathways-style programming.
• Chicago CRED (Community Rebuilding Through Education, Diversion & Empowerment): Chicago's CRED program focuses on connecting individuals at highest risk of gun violence to employment, education, and therapeutic services, closely matching ONSE's Pathways model and target population of at-risk young men.

Emerging players

• Youth Advocate Programs (YAP): YAP pairs justice-involved youth with adult advocates and provides community-based alternatives to incarceration, comparable to ONSE's Pathways approaches for at-risk District youth and young adults.
• Meek Mill / REFORM Alliance Grant Cohort: REFORM Alliance funds jurisdictions and nonprofits to reduce probation and parole violations, an adjacent criminal justice reentry effort that intersects with ONSE's Pathways and partner-agency reentry work.

Regional players

• Advance Peace Sacramento: Advance Peace operates a fellowship for individuals at the center of gun violence in select cities, conceptually similar to ONSE's People of Promise program but geographically focused outside of DC.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/onsedc_
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCdxuCI7xVWuvr7Kpo1prGfw
• Facebookfacebook.com/onsedc
• Instagraminstagram.com/onsedc_
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dconse

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about DC Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement