In 2017 MCP began holding classes in San Leandro at the Deaf Hope Community Center. We held Tuesday night classes at this site and expanded our outreach to the southern area of Alameda County. This allowed us to reach more participants who were unable to travel to our two other class locations in downtown Oakland and in Berkeley.

In March of 2020 we were forced to close our operations for two months at the onset of the Covid 19 Pandemic. MCP paid our staff during those two months until we were allowed to pivot to holding groups online through the zoom platform. Violence prevention groups were facilitated on zoom for the next two years until MCP was given permission to resume in-person groups again in 2022 at La Familia a non-profit located in the Fruitvale section of Oakland, CA. MCP offered two classes a week online through zoom and offered two in-person classes at the La Familia office next to the Fruitvale Bart station. During this time, MCP also began a yearlong partnership with the Oakland Native American Health Center holding groups for Native American men at their facility in Oakland. MCP stopped holding classes after our contract ended in October of 2023.

In the fall of 2020, MCP was awarded a small community focused grant from Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency. This grant enabled us to do a series of online presentations and workshops to a number of Schools, Healthcare facilities and Community Based Organizations in Oakland. Our focus was to inform the community of Oakland about Intimate Partner Violence and provide resources for both survivors and persons who caused harm. The MCP staff were able to complete 8 workshops and outreached over 1000 community members through these presentations.

In 2020 Men Creating Peace was contacted by the California State Auditor’s office to contribute information regarding Batterer’s Treatment Programs for a state wide audit. MCP was chosen as one of 5 Batterer’s Treatment Programs in Alameda County to complete a lengthy survey and participate in an online interview for the auditor’s report to the California State Legislature and the Governor’s office. The report came out in 2021 and provided updated information as well as numerous recommendations on how to improve Batterer’s Treatment and Anger Management programs throughout the state of California.

In the spring of 2022, MCP began negotiations with La Familia to merge with their larger network of locations throughout Alameda County. They wanted to expand their services to include anger management and violence prevention groups for men. After 6 months of negotiations and meetings, La Familia decided it was not willing to take on another non-profit. MCP continued to hold groups at their Fruitvale office in Oakland and La Familia continued to refer clients to our program. The last in-person class was held in April of 2024.

In the fall of 2022 Men Creating Peace was invited to participate in an educational film series with the California District Attorneys Association. The series was entitled “Swim Again” and was designed to educate law enforcement, attorneys, judicial staff and other organizations throughout California and beyond about Domestic Abuse. It was released in October of 2023 to coincide with Domestic Violence Awareness month. It can be viewed on You Tube worldwide.

Men Creating Peace received a grant from the Oakland Department of Violence Prevention in May of 2022. MCP partnered with Covenant House Oakland to provide weekly classes for young men who were living in the Covenant House. Covenant House is a homeless shelter for runaway transitional age youth between the ages of 16 and 25 years old who have struggled with homelessness, substance abuse and other negative impacts of living on the streets in Oakland. The Covenant House is a nationwide program offering a variety of services, safe shelter and food for both young men and women. The grant was specifically tailored to provide violence prevention classes for the male youth who were living at the Oakland Covenant House. MCP started our Transitional Age Youth groups in August of 2022 with 5 young men. The weekly groups continued as more and more young men attended the meetings at Covenant House until March of 2024. This was a very successful program and included a variety of outside speakers, community building events and group exercises. By the end of the program our groups had grown to 14 young men a week. Over the two-and-a-half-year project 40 young men took part in the weekly groups.

In January of 2023 Men Creating Peace reached out to another larger non-profit Leaders in Community Services, (LCA). They were located in the Jack London Square district of Oakland and had office space and classroom space available. MCP negotiated for several months on the merger plans but it was ultimately squashed by the overseas ownership group of LCA at the very end of 2023. After this last effort to merge with a larger organization the MCP Board of Directors voted to close the Oakland non-profit and to stop taking clients as of the end of December 2023. MCP continued to hold classes until July of 2024 graduating all but 7 remaining clients who has been in the program as of December of 2023. This marked the end of the program in California.

The founder of Men Creating Peace Devon Gaster, moved to Washington State in late 2024 where he now resides with his wife Alicia. Devon has started a new program in Olympia working on zoom with individual male clients who have anger and abusive behaviors. He is also presenting at speaking engagements around the country regarding his 28 years of violence prevention and restorative justice work. He looks forward to the opportunity to share the Men Creating Peace program model and curriculum with other violence prevention organizations who would benefit from this powerful approach to healing working with men who cause harm through abuse and aggression.

Devon is currently working to start a blog or podcast later this year to give men a form to discuss issues of healthy masculinity and provide peaceful alternatives to combat the rampant hatred, misogyny and violence that continues to plague our nation and the world today.