There are various forms of emergency preparedness for natural disasters. From an early age, one learns how to put out a fire, board up their home if a hurricane or tornado is coming, or drop under a desk if an earthquake hits—but low-income communities of color have little to no response to more frequent incidences of state violence in the streets and inside of jails. The Justice Teams for Truth and Reinvestment will be the local rapid response networks inside of eight different counties across the state of California that will build infrastructure to support victims and survivors of state violence and mass criminalization. These teams will also work to advance a “Truth and Reinvestment” campaign to raise the visibility of a long history and current reality of state violence and mass criminalization in low-income communities of color, while advocating for the re-direction of resources toward employment, education opportunities, and public health-based responses to drugs and violence.

For more info on this project, including the 8 CA Counties- Alameda, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernadino, Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Orange, see attached toolkit and overview below.

You may also contact Taina Vargas-Edmond at: taina@ellabakercenter.org