Partners & Friends
Coalition for Reenvisioning Our Safety (CROS)
The Coalition for Reenvisioning Our Safety worked tirelessly for over a year to research, receive community input, and develop core elements necessary for the success of unarmed, non-police response in the City of Ann Arbor. They then spent years more, advocating for an unarmed, non-police response pilot in the City that aligned with those elements.
Without their expertise in public health, community co-creation, systems change, research, and current systems of crisis response, we would be stuck in a paradigm of crisis response that is outdated and does not address the needs of our most marginalized community members. Care-Based Safety would not exist without CROS. We continue to advocate together for unarmed, non-police response with a public health approach.
Daytime Warming Center of Washtenaw County
Care-Based Safety works closely with the Warming Center throughout the winter by hosting activities like game day, art making, and support groups to build relationships and connections between guests and across communities.
Peace House Ypsi
Sheri Wander, the host of Peace House, was an essential member of Care-Based Safety’s design process and current lead of our Community Building program. We continue to work with Peace House, a house of hospitality, in our shared mission to help people to gain the tools, skills, and confidence to bandage their own and other’s wounds — and to confront and dismantle the systems that cause the bleeding.
Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice (ICPJ)
The Co-Directors of Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice were essential participants in developing the design of Care-Based Safety’s program, facilitating community co-creation sessions. We continue to work closely together in holding workshops and events that skill up our neighbors to respond to conflict and crisis toward our shared goals of co-liberation and dignity for all life. ICPJ is committed to healing as a diverse community by dismantling systems of violence and building our collective capacity to live our shared values of peace, justice, and ecological sustainability.
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Michigan Criminal Justice Team
AFSC’s director, Natalie Holbrook-Combs, coordinated the co-creation sessions of Care-Based Safety’s design with people who are currently and formerly incarcerated. Nat remains the Co-Chair of Care-Based Safety’s Mission Circle. We work closely with AFSC’s team in our shared mission to addresses the state violence of the criminal, legal, and imprisonment systems in our communities and build healing, wellness and full liberation for all. They also generously share their office as a space for our team to meet.
Detroit Justice Center
Nancy Parker, the Executive Director of Detroit Justice Center, currently sits on our Mission Circle. Nancy and the Detroit Justice Center have extended essential support in understanding the legal landscape surrounding unarmed, non-police response. We continue to work with DJC to understand how to ensure the legal rights of our neighbors and program participants are upheld and to reduce interactions with law enforcement and the criminal-legal system.
Graduate Employees Organization 3550
The Graduate Employees Organization participated in the co-creation process for Care-Based Safety, informing how our program could meet the needs of students and workers at the University of Michigan. We continue to mutually support each other in developing policy and infrastructure for unarmed, non-police crisis response to thrive and to build a culture of care-based safety that addresses the needs of workers.
Avalon Housing
The Co-Directors of Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice were essential participants in developing the design of Care-Based Safety’s program, facilitating community co-creation sessions. We continue to work closely together in holding workshops and events that skill up our neighbors to respond to conflict and crisis toward our shared goals of co-liberation and dignity for all life. ICPJ is committed to healing as a diverse community by dismantling systems of violence and building our collective capacity to live our shared values of peace, justice, and ecological sustainability.
Fed Up Ministries
We work closely with Fed Up Ministries through our daily programs, in alignment with our shared mission of meeting basic needs with dignity, alongside communities that are food insecure and economically exploited by unjust racial and economic systems in the United States. Fed Up and CBS are co-developing programs that will address the crises faced by people who are economically exploited, through mutual aid and building networks of support.
Growing Hope
Care-Based Safety and Growing Hope share the mission of meeting the basic needs of our communities as a means of care, connection, and dignity. We have and will continue to work together in creative interventions that address issues of unmet needs, harm, and absence of free, communal spaces in downtown Ypsilanti.
Washtenaw Camp Outreach
As Care-Based Safety develops its response program, we will work closely with Washtenaw Camp Outreach to respond to the survival and crisis needs of people who are currently unhoused and living in tents, through mutual aid and solidarity. We are equally committed to building networks of care and support, and upholding the self-determination and dignity of all of our neighbors regardless of housing status.
Circling Back Peer Support Network
Care-Based Safety and Circling Back have a shared commitment to mutual aid and peer support, and have worked together consistently to address the social and material needs of people who are unhoused and precariously housed. Circling Back and CBS have plans to work together, when funding is available, on our shared dream of a mobile van with basic needs supplies that can be delivered directly to people in crisis as well as transport people to maintain connections throughout the community.
Southeast Michigan Pull Over Prevention (POP)
Care-Based Safety is proud to participate in Pull Over Prevention, a monthly program that assists people in repairing their cars and bikes in order to reduce interactions with law enforcement through pretext stops related to taillights, headlights, and other issues. POP includes a mutual aid fair, where local organizations provide free resources like pet food, nutritious meals, harm reduction supplies, wound care supplies, hygiene items, clothing, and more. We share POP’s aim to build a community of mutual aid and solidarity, so we can avoid confrontations with law enforcement.
Wolverine Street Medicine
As Care-Based Safety develops its response program, we will work with Wolverine Street Medicine to respond to the first aid and health needs of people who are currently unhoused and living in tents. Care-Based Safety, Washtenaw Camp Outreach, and Wolverine Street Medicine are currently co-developing a public health, equity-based camp outreach program for Summer 2024.
The Neutral Zone
The Neutral Zone participated in our co-creation process to design an unarmed, non-police crisis response program that aligns with the needs of teens and young adults in Ann Arbor. We share a commitment to supporting the self-determination and leadership of young people, and look forward to working together when we are able to implement our programs in the City of Ann Arbor.
Homelessness Solidarity Network
Care-Based Safety is a proud member of the Homelessness Solidarity Network, a group of connected organizations and people who are unhoused or who are addressing the needs of people who are currently unhoused or precariously housed across Washtenaw County. As a network, we share information about our programs, strategize about advocacy, and show up for each other to better meet the needs of our neighbors.
A Brighter Way
Care-Based Safety and A Brighter Way share a commitment to supporting formerly incarcerated people build a stable, successful and fulfilling life through strong relationships. We hope to continuously build collaborative opportunities that reduce recidivism and increase public safety, through connection.
Ypsi Neighbors Improving Community Engagement (Ypsi NICE)
Care-Based Safety and Ypsi NICE share a commitment to unarmed, non-police response options in the City of Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township. We work together to explore opportunities to advocate for and develop non-police programs serving these communities.
Ypsi NICE
Ypsi Civic Education and Action
The Neutral Zone participated in our co-creation process to design an unarmed, non-police crisis response program that aligns with the needs of teens and young adults in Ann Arbor. We share a commitment to supporting the self-determination and leadership of young people, and look forward to working together when we are able to implement our programs in the City of Ann Arbor.
