DISRUPTING SYSTEMS

Working to address the root causes of societal ails 

Decriminalize poverty

• Ensure that risk to public safety, not wealth determines whether someone receives is released from jail

• Ensure that being suspected of committing a crime is what sparks an arrest--not unpaid parking tickets or simply associating with people on parole

SENTENCING REFORM

• Give judges the discretion to give appropriate sentences (vs. mandatory minimums and enhancements)
  

• Allow re-sentencing for those who were given unduly harsh sentences for offenses that now only yield a ticket or probation

REMOVING BARRIERS TO EMPLOYMENT & OWNERSHIP

• Increase Access to Sectors (e.g. tech) Where Minorities Are Underrepresented
  

• Remove Legal Barriers Preventing People from Getting Jobs
  

• Ensuring Hiring Standards Provide Equal Opportunity
  

• Help People Access the Occupational Licenses Needed to Start Businesses
  

• Increase Access to Capital

DEFENDING LIBERTY & JUSTICE

• Oppose Efforts that Prevent Judges from Giving People Sentences that Fit their Offense
  

• Fight Against Unconstitutional Measures Like Stop & Frisk & Policing Practices that Violate People's Civil Rights

POLICE & COMMUNITY RELATIONS

• Allow people who have turned their lives around to serve their communities as officers
  

• Update use of force policies & de-escalation protocols to prioritize preserving life
  

• Fully fund policing efforts that have significant community participation
  

• Hold those accountable for violating laws and protocols
  

• Protect officers who root out bad apples
  

• Ensure prompt access to complaint records for a decade
  

EMPOWERING INDIVIDUALS

21st Century Tech Skills brought to you by BLUE1647

The best way to break the cycle of poverty, prison and violence is to give people a real alternative. Our youth already love technology, why not build on that and teach them the skills needed to get the well-paying jobs of today and tomorrow?

#TheLibertyProject, via BLUE1647, does exactly that.
 

Relevant data:

• More than 10,000 men, women, and youth trained

• 95% of those served are underrepresented in tech

• Exciting outcomes range from trainees becoming trainers and fully-employed at firms to receiving scholarships and starting their own businesses

EMPOWERING ORGANIZATIONS

Technical assistance (TA) is the quintessential catch-all term. But, the Social Change team thinks of TA as not just teaching organizations how to fish, but also going with
them on the trip to make sure they actually catch something.

Examples of areas where we provide technical assistance are below:

Policy Research

• Researching relevant law

• Compiling data relating to a phenomenon

• Comparing similar measures or efforts in other states or countries

• Drafting memos articulating findings

Coalition-Building

• Reaching out to stakeholders regarding an issue

• Convening those most affected to discuss both problems and solutions

• Following up and maintaining communication between stakeholders to assure progress
  

Public Education

• Create fact sheets chronicling issue & solution

• Communicate merits of issue via social media, radio and print media

• Educate decision-makers on issue