Public Safety isn't just more police. |
Our communities deserve to thrive with: resources including recreation, parks, thriving businesses & high quality schools. We deserve to be paid for the jobs we perform, retire with dignity & not be harmed by police forces, especially not in our schools. This campaign calls for safety created through community & democracy.
CU's past work on this campaign has included our long-standing engagement around the Baltimore City Budget, both through the Better Budget Baltimore, and our #Defund2Refund Campaign, as well as our Youth Leadership Academy (YOLA) & re-starting the Baltimore Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROSBaltimore on IG & FB) Follow us online at marylandcu Follow & use the #Defund2Refund, #YOLA & #CounselorsNotCops to read about & share your thoughts on this campaign |
People’s Budget
Divesting from police, investing in democracy & communities
The People’s Budget Campaign unites the CPD/A network in a shared vision for the freedom to thrive–a world in which we build safety through community and democracy and abolish policing and prisons. To this end, the CPD/A network will create “People’s Budgets” that are united in their call for deep investments in community care and divestment from harm.
Some issues and campaigns call on all of us to be bold. Since the 2020 uprisings, police killings overall—and of Black people, specifically—have remained generally steady. Officers shot and killed 1,055 US residents in 2021. The police and prison system is one of the most long-standing forms of racist political violence in this country. Interrupting this system will require mass interventions and bold creativity. Through the People’s Budget Campaign, the CPD/A network has a chance to meaningfully take on this racist, harmful system while building the well-resourced communities, participatory democracy, and shared power that we need to thrive.
Goals
Targets
Tactics
Key Terms
The People’s Budget Campaign unites the CPD/A network in a shared vision for the freedom to thrive–a world in which we build safety through community and democracy and abolish policing and prisons. To this end, the CPD/A network will create “People’s Budgets” that are united in their call for deep investments in community care and divestment from harm.
Some issues and campaigns call on all of us to be bold. Since the 2020 uprisings, police killings overall—and of Black people, specifically—have remained generally steady. Officers shot and killed 1,055 US residents in 2021. The police and prison system is one of the most long-standing forms of racist political violence in this country. Interrupting this system will require mass interventions and bold creativity. Through the People’s Budget Campaign, the CPD/A network has a chance to meaningfully take on this racist, harmful system while building the well-resourced communities, participatory democracy, and shared power that we need to thrive.
Goals
- During 2024 local and state budget cycles, we will create aligned “People’s Budgets,” united in our demand to take money from harmful institutions like police and prisons and invest in services and programs our communities need most–in particular quality public education, voter access and infrastructure, housing, and health care.
- Examples: Investments in education could include more teachers, community schools, restorative practices that allow young people to collaborate around resolving community harms, and mental health supports. Investments in democracy could include resources to make it easier for people to vote, like paid time off from work to vote, language support for voters who don’t speak English, high school voter registration, and jail-based voting for eligible voters.
- Each year, the US spends $100 billion on policing and $80 billion on incarceration. As a network, our goal is to divest 10% of annual spending on police and prisons in our affiliate cities and states across the country. We will invest that money in community priorities.
- Example: In 2019, due to the organizing of Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT) in Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Board of School Directors divested $600,000 from police and security and invested that money into six new mental health positions to focus on trauma-informed care.
- We will expand a mass base of community members–youth, parents, formerly incarcerated folks, and more–who are taking action to demand that elected officials create moral budgets.
Targets
- Budget decision-makers include city council members, mayors, state legislatures, governors, and budget negotiating teams at the city and state level.
Tactics
- Convene people’s assemblies to develop “People’s Budgets” that unite our fights and build our base (in 35 states and many more cities).
- Expand our local and state coalitions to represent a diverse set of experiences.
- Organize powerful, network-wide solidarity actions in cities on the cusp of wins to generate a spark, launching the campaign into a national movement (like the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis that sparked the 2020 uprisings, for example).
- Organize country-wide creative actions such as: post billboards on the same day in meaningful locations showing that for every dollar spent on police only cents are spent on for example, education, democracy, and homeless services; budget-hearing take-overs and sit-ins; and creative visuals like murals created by community members.
- Use communications strategies and political education to develop a strong external narrative about our demands.
- Use elections to move candidates on the issues and ballot measures so people can decide themselves how to invest.
Key Terms
- Budget cycle: The (typically annual) process for setting spending priorities and allocating resources within a school district, city, county, or state.
- Divest: Refers to removing money away–in this context, from policing and prisons–through a budget process.
- People’s budgets: Community members set budget priorities and decide where money should go.