Volunteers sought for Community Public Safety Units
Goal is to "de-escalate issues before they become bigger problems"
Community activists in Asbury Park have embarked on a new project: Establishing volunteer Community Public Safety Units.
The goal is to “respond to nonviolent community problems/issues in the moment they occur and for us to come to de-escalate issues before they become bigger problems,” according to Derek Minno-Bloom, one of the organizers of the effort.
Those who volunteer will receive training in “nonviolent de-escalation skills, get social worker trainings, mental health crisis trainings, anti-oppression trainings and connect with other groups around the country that are doing this as well to learn from them,” Minno-Bloom said.
The Community Public Safety Units are a joint effort by the Asbury Park Transformative Justice Project (APTJP) and Cooperate Asbury.
From Minno-Bloom’s statement to asburyparksun.com:
“The APTJP and Cooperate Asbury are teaming together to start Community Public Safety Units. Over the next year during COVID-19 we are looking for people who want to take part in these units. What does that look like you ask? Over the next year we will get training in nonviolent de-escalation skills, get social worker trainings, mental health crisis trainings, anti-oppression trainings, and connect with other groups around the country that are doing this as well to learn from them.
Once we are trained up our community would call us to respond to nonviolent community problems/issues in the moment they occur and for us to come to de- escalate issues before they become bigger problems. We will create a large network of people participating in community accountability outside of the current criminal justice system.
If you live in Asbury Park or live close by and have a deep relationship with Asbury Park please email us at Transformativejusticeap@gmail.com if you are interested in joining our Community Public Safety Units.”
About the vision of the Transformative Justice Project as provided by Minno-Bloom:
“We put our belief that people are not the worst thing theyʼve ever done into action by providing intentional housing, empowering organizing trainings, job skills and mental health counseling to people of all walks of life returning from prison.
Our vision is to transform the way people view crime and rehabilitation: from one of individual choice, to one of collective responsibility and accountability. Our guests will find their own liberation by seeking their own mental health and healing from an unjust system while receiving the time they need to find housing, jobs, and restored family and community relationships.”
The Asbury Park Transformative Justice Project (APTJP) mission is to drastically reduce recidivism by bringing an end to the victimization and powerlessness inherent in todayʼs criminal justice system by using a transformative justice collective model.
For more information on the Transformative Justice Project vision and mission, visit their website at aptransformativejustice.org.
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