What is Alive and Free?

Alive & Free is the name of the violence prescription of the Omega Boys Club/Street soldiers-a nationally recognized youth development and violence prevention organization headquartered in San Francisco, CA.  Co-founded in 1987 by Dr. Joseph E. Marshall Jr., Omega’s mission is to keep youth people alive (unharmed by violence) and (from incarceration.). At the heart of the Alive & Free Prescription is the notion that violence is a social disease with an explicit treatment process. The disease is transmitted by the germs of bad information, bad instruction, bad advice, and bad example that to young people appear to be good.  Youth are exposed to these germs via their families, peers and neighborhoods; through music, television, video games, and movies. The disease appears as techniques for survival when, in fact, the opposite is true. Infected youth do not survive, they only learn how to die or go to prison. The Alive and Free Prescription works to change beliefs, attitudes, values and actions that promote violence. Alive & Free identifies and addresses the actions that put young people at risk of violence (Risk Factors), the symptomatic thinking that puts them at risk (Commandments of Violence), and the Rules for Living that promote positive lifestyle choices to mitigate against the onset of the disease of violence.  These Risk Factors, Commandments of Violence, and Rules for Living are at the core of the Omega Boys Club/Street Soldiers methodology.

Risk Factors

Destructive Language
Guns
Drugs
Alcohol
Attitude: “I don’t give a ____”
Negative View of Women
Material Values over People
Destructive Family/ Environment

Rules for Living

1. There is nothing more valuable than an individual’s life. (You can never kill an enemy.)
2. Respect comes from within.
3. Change begins with the individual.
4. A friend will never lead you to danger. (a healthy person stands alone.)