Take the Pledge: Reimagine Public Safety

All youth and young adults should be safe from violent crime. The Reimagine Public Safety Pledge is a call for mayors and local officials to invest in public safety strategies and programs that engage community partners to effectively address violence and crime and heal communities.

The Reimagine Public Safety Pledge is a project of John Jay College of Criminal Justice (Opens in a new tab), with support from the Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper Alliance (MBK Alliance) and in partnership with Cities United (Opens in a new tab) and The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (Opens in a new tab).

The Pledge

Our communities deserve smart, effective, and compassionate solutions, which prompt downturns in issues of violence and crime. While we’ve seen significant progress in the reduction of violence around the country, we need to do more to ensure we have safe, just, and healthy communities.

We need to invest in communities that suffer the highest rates of violence, which are disproportionately communities of color; empower community organizations and leaders to design and implement solutions to violence and crime; and address issues of discrimination and trauma in our existing systems of public safety.

The Reimagine Public Safety Pledge, hosted by John Jay College, calls on local officials, who are uniquely positioned to implement and fund community-driven public safety strategies, to commit to:

1

Empowering Communities to Address Violence

Establish programs, policies, offices, and budgets that enable community partners to actively contribute to reducing violence and promoting neighborhood safety. Examples: Establish an Office of Neighborhood Safety/Violence Prevention and fund Community Violence Intervention (CVI) programs.
2

Investing in Off-Ramps from the Criminal Legal System

Fund strategies, programs, and services which address the underlying reasons people and/or communities that experience high rates of contact with the criminal legal system. Examples: Investments in programs that divert people from arrest and incarceration into mental health services, substance misuse treatment, and supportive housing.
3

Investing in community health and well-being to prevent violence and crime

Invest in strategies which support safe, healthy communities and address the root causes of violence and crime to ensure all young Americans have the opportunities they need to reach their full potential, as outlined in MBK’s Six Milestones (Opens in a new tab). Examples: Investments in programs proven to improve public safety (e.g., youth employment, blight remediation) and programs that promote racial healing (e.g., racial reconciliation between law enforcement and the communities they serve).

For more information or to get involved, visit. If you have questions about the Reimagine Public Safety Pledge, please reach out to ReimaginePublicSafety@jjay.cuny.edu (Opens in a new tab).

Everyone can support this effort! If you are a community member, use your voice.

A woman with medium-dark skin tone, long hair in tightly coiled braids, and a black facemask holds a microphone. Around her people appear to walk down the same direction.

Community Policing — Photo Credit: Jelani Photography/Shutterstock

Workshops

Participants of the Reimagine Public Safety Pledge will gain access to a series of workshops focused on providing educational tools and analysis on a range of community-centered public safety strategies and tools. Each workshop is supplemented with curated resource materials, information on organizations that can provide additional support, and opportunities to engage in deeper discussions with local and national experts.

Workshop Topics

Empowering Communities to Address Safety

Workshop 1: Key Elements of Successful Community Violence Intervention (CVI) Programs To Address Gun Violence

Workshop 2: Institutionalizing Community Violence Intervention Through Offices of Neighborhood Safety and Gun Violence Prevention

Creating Off-Ramps from the Criminal Legal System

Workshop 3: Transforming the Response to Community Calls for Help

Workshop 4: Diverting People and Funding Into Communities

Transforming and Healing Communities

Workshop 5: Investing in Mental Health to Support Public Safety

Workshop 6: Racial Reconciliation to Heal Communities and Support Public Safety

Resource Hub

Information on research, funding, and guidance related to the three focus areas for the Reimagine Public Safety Pledge can be found here (Opens in a new tab).

MBK Milestones

The MBK Alliance developed six milestones to ensure boys and young men of color are enriched, empowered, and have clear pathways of opportunity. The Alliance is grounded in the idea that we must adopt approaches that provide Black and Brown boys and young men with the tools to succeed as they move through key life stages. Learn more here.

The Reimagine Public Safety pledge furthers the MBK Alliance’s commitment to milestone six, which states that all youth and young adults should be safe from violent crime. Last year, the Alliance launched Freedom Summer 2022, a national call to action for communities to develop creative ways to keep our children engaged and safe during the summer months.

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The Barack Obama Foundation is registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (EIN 46-4950751).