Portland’s Office of Violence Prevention is trying to get ahead of an anticipated rise in shootings in the spring and summer months.

Saturday’s triple homicide is a tragedy the office hopes street-level outreach programs aim to prevent.

On Tuesday, Portland Public Schools identified two of the victims, Eskender Tamra Isaac Daudi, as students in their district.

The shooting happened just after noon Saturday at University Park.

“The fact that it happened on a Saturday afternoon in broad daylight just makes you know the boldness of these young shooters and the generation of young people growing up without any moral values or any standards,” said Bretto Jackson, the founder of non-profit anti-violence group, Leaders Become Legends.

The group seeks to connect mentors with young people at risk of getting involved in gang-related violence. Jackson says many of the recent shootings in Portland involve young men of color with generational trauma, and preventing more violence starts with treating their mental health.

“You’ve got layers and layers and layers of this trauma to unravel before you can even get to any kind of solutions, so the police need to understand that,” he said.

A KATU analysis of police data found that homicides in January and February of this year are down by half from this time last year, and shootings are down by 34 percent.

Sam Thompson, program manager at the Office of Violence Prevention, says the work isn’t over.

“As long as bodies are dropping, we can never celebrate,” he said.

“That means we always have work to do.”

The city’s latest effort to cut down crime comes in the form of a contribution of $500,000 in unused funds from the mayor’s office and Community Safety Division. It will be used to help hire more street-level outreach workers to diffuse simmering tensions.

Thompson says while the money helps, it needs to extend past the spring and summer months when there’s an anticipated increase in shootings.

“What happens a lot of times is when we get to a place where we feel like we’ve made some change, a lot of the funding ends,” he said.

“We’ve got to make sure that going forward that doesn’t happen. I feel the frustration of all of our partners. I feel the frustration of the community. We’re hurting.”

The superintendent of Portland Public Schools sent out a letter Wednesday sharing that grief counselors will be available to students upon return from spring break.

Anyone with information on Saturday’s shooting is asked to call Portland Police or send an anonymous tip through the Safe Oregon tip line.