As the year comes to an end, it’s important to highlight the achievements that further community safety in a time when our communities are under constant attack. 

MomsRising has stood with community advocates and experts to expand federal legislation to prioritize community safety and police accountability. Earlier this fall, MomsRising joined these advocates, frontline workers, and members of Congress to launch the first-ever Congressional Community Safety Caucus, a significant step toward reimagining what real safety looks like for our families.[1]

This incredible effort, supported by parents, advocates, frontline practitioners, and led by U.S. Representatives Summer Lee, Delia Ramirez, Gabe Amo, Hank Johnson, Morgan McGarvey, and LaMonica McIver, created the first-ever Congressional Community Safety Caucus to uplift evidence-based, community-rooted solutions that are working across the country. These programs are effective and are working in communities across the country to address trauma, prevent violence, and invest in mental health, youth, housing, education, and care.

At the launch event for the Community Safety Caucus, we witnessed it firsthand: Powerful voices leading real change, including practitioners working on the front lines. Leaders like…

• Benny Ivey, a credible messenger in Mississippi whose work helps youth break the cycle of incarceration and violence.

• Freedom Jones, a trauma-informed strategist, is saving lives with community violence intervention. 

• Kyleesha Wingfield-Hill, who helped drive a 60% drop in crime in Newark by investing in people. 

For too long, the U.S. has neglected the root causes of harm, poverty, mental health, housing insecurity, and systemic racism. The data is clear: more police do not equal more safety. But care and community investment do.[2]

From Denver’s STAR program to Newark’s Office of Violence Prevention, communities across the country are proving that we don’t need more punishment, we need more prevention. Our kids deserve counselors, not more cops in schools. Our communities deserve healing, not handcuffs.  And we all deserve to feel safe, no matter our zip code.

The launch of the Congressional Community Safety Caucus is a milestone, but the movement doesn’t stop there. Congress must pass the People’s Response Act and fund the programs that truly keep us safe.

[1] www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1513392459565864&rdid... 

[2] www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/what-actually-works-figh...