Moving at the speed of trust

Care-Based Safety is dedicated to acting with principle and intention. We are taking careful steps in building a community response program that brings loving, unarmed support to people directly impacted by structural violence – without police. In our planning, response, and practice we center the needs of people who are Black, Indigenous, undocumented, unhoused, LGBTQIA+, using drugs, and/or experiencing mental health struggles.

Ypsilanti

Care-Based Response Pilot

During a place-based pilot, we are building our collective capacity to establish a full response program that will have an open, public phone number for access.

Throughout the summer, we will be a proactive presence in downtown Ypsilanti and respond to crises as they arise in real time and as we are invited by neighbors, friends, and partners.

📅June – August 2024

☀️Wednesdays and Thursdays

⌚5:00pm – 9:00pm

📍16 S. Washington St., Ypsilanti

What we respond to:

Conflict (arguments, disagreements)
Basic first aid (wound care, wellness checks)
Overdose prevention, reversal, and aftercare
Noise complaints and neighbor concerns
Distress related to mental health and other stressors

We do not yet respond to:

Situations involving weapons
Life-threatening injuries/illness

Together, we’re creating the first unarmed, non-police response program in Michigan. For us, by us. We’re trying to raise $25,000 from supporters like you, to launch our response program in Ypsilanti.

Our Purpose

“

”

We urgently need to bring to our communities the limitless capacity to love, serve, and create for and with each other.

― Grace Lee Boggs

Values

We value accountability, centering those most impacted, and shared responsibility
We value interconnectedness, the collective, and ancestral knowledge
We believe in our ability to collectively create the futures we yearn for through practice, imagination, and creativity
We believe in radical consent, bodily autonomy, care, and self-determination
We believe in a future where public health programs and infrastructure are resourced, including the creation of new, care-based programs, making policing and state-sponsored punishment obsolete

Who We Are

Culture & Operations Circle

Liz Kennedy (she/they)

Culture and Operations, Director

Liz is an artist and community organizer. Liz combines years of nonprofit leadership experience, from the NAACP to United Way, with their lived experiences as a survivor, healer, and Detroit-rooted organizer to advance community-based networks of care, safety, and justice where all can thrive. Embracing the belief that “care is the antidote to violence” (Saidiya Hartman), they organize with the Detroit-based Healing By Choice! collective and are deeply committed to strengthening networks of community care and safety throughout Southeast Michigan and beyond.

Robert Ramaswamy (he/they)

Culture & Operations Lead

Robert grew up in northern Michigan and has been living, working, and studying in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti since 2016. Robert is a student of labor history and social movements, and has a deep curiosity about radical, grassroots visions for care. As a former editor and researcher, Robert finds joy in facilitating communication and finding creative ways to keep things organized on the back end. They are a parent, a caregiver, and a dreamer who believes in a world without police.

Community Care Circle

Amal Omer (she/her)

Care-Based Response Co-Lead

Amal is first-generation American, with strong roots to Tigray. She is an abolitionist, with her inspiration for resistance coming from Leila Khaled and Malcolm X, both revolutionaries who led with the goal of true intersectionality. Community is important to Amal, and she understands relationships with neighbors as the only way to true liberation. Care-Based Safety’s goal of a collectively created non-police response group is directly in line with Amal’s vision for a more enjoyable, more healthy Ypsi, where everyone is looking out for one other, and policing becomes obsolete!

Corn Williams (he/him)

Care-Based Response Co-Lead

Corn is a person in recovery from substance use disorder (SUD) and who has a history of substance and mental health related police involvement. Corn is also a BIPOC community member, who supports and understands the benefits of unarmed response relative to individuals with law enforcement related trauma. Corn works with several different community based harm reduction organizations with various focal points, including: Drug Policy Reform, Racial Equity and Accessibility, and Drug Checking.

Sheri Wander (she/they)

Community Building Lead

Sheri is a learner, wanna-be radical, struggling-to-be pacifist, mama to chosen family, occasional writer, dog caregiver, Catholic worker, non-violence trainer, and organizer. Sheri lives at Peace House, Ypsi — a house of hospitality in the tradition of the Catholic Worker Movement, which aims to help people to gain the tools, skills, and confidence to bandage their own and other’s wounds — and to confront and dismantle the systems that cause the bleeding. Sheri founded and coordinates the daytime warming shelter for Washtenaw County, a democratically-governed space run by the homeless community for the homeless community.

Contact Sheri about workshops available in Ypsi. Sheri prefers to communicate via text and can be reached at (734) 754-0648.

Goochie (he/him)

Outreach

Terril “Goochie” Cotton is a lifetime resident of Ypsilanti, who dreams of traveling to warmer places. Goochie is known as the unofficial Mayor of Ypsilanti—everybody will recognize him and have a kind word to say. Goochie is also an organizer with Circling Back, a peer support community for people who are unhoused and housing insecure. Goochie can be found rolling around downtown Ypsilanti or at the Daytime Warming Center every afternoon. Goochie was born with spina bifida and is in a wheelchair for life.

To talk with Goochie about Care-Based Safety, find him at the Ypsilanti Freighthouse during the week (8am – 7pm) or hanging out at the Transit Center when it isn’t too cold.

Mission Circle

Yodit Mesfin Johnson (she/her)

Mission Circle, Co-Chair

Yodit is a Black momma, abolitionist and visionary strategist who centers racial justice in her organizing, activism and work towards social change, liberation and freedom for all living things. As co-chair of our Mission Circle, she centers love and care as guiding principles for how she stewards the organization’s mission and vision. Yodit thrives in building community around the questions that matter most; how can we unlock the potential and possibility needed to radically transform our communities, see the ecosystem and the whole, and design and act in ways that bend the long arc of history towards balance and harmony?

Natalie Holbrook Combs (she/they)

Mission Circle, Co-Chair

Nat is a queer mama, wife and liberation and racial justice activist. She has dedicated her life to disrupting prisons and punishment practices. She believes in the power of revolutionary thought & action, rooted in the spiritual principles of love, compassion, care for all beings & the earth, restoration and reciprocity, as the foundation for a more generative & peaceful tomorrow. She co-directs the American Friends Service Committee’s Michigan Criminal Justice Program, an abolitionist organization working to get people free and close prisons & expose state violence in carceral spaces, while building community & care-based responses to harm in place of police and punishment.

Lisa Jackson, Ph.D. (she/her)

Mission Circle, Secretary

Lisa is an advocate for recognizing the strengths that have long existed in our communities and the right for everyone to experience peace, joy, self-determination, love, care and safety in ways that they define for themselves.

Anna Wood (she/her)

Mission Circle, Treasurer

Anna is a researcher, student, teacher, community member, and parent living in Washtenaw County. She has been a participant and learner in care-based community organizing in the county since 2016. As a doctoral candidate in Social Work and Sociology at the University of Michigan, Anna studies the social construction of masculinity as it relates to both possibilities and risks within friendship and care-based intervention. As a former financial coach and activist for radical economic justice movements, she hopes to provide support to CBS in her position on the mission circle.

Bob Gillett (he/him)

Mission Circle

Bob is a lifelong civil and human rights advocate. As an attorney, he has worked with many organizations created to protect and expand these rights and to provide services and support to communities historically discriminated against and marginalized by public and private institutions. He believes that solutions need to come from these communities – and that the lawyer’s role is to support and defend these community solutions.

Nancy A. Parker (she/her)

Mission Circle

Nancy is a Black mother of two precocious little kiddos, a passionate advocate for racial justice, and a dedicated movement lawyer. Nancy is fighting for a future world in which we lead with care and compassion, and not racism and capitalism; a world in which all peoples are free. As a movement lawyer, Nancy provides legal support and guidance to advance the mission and goals of organizers and organizations. Nancy is a Co-Executive Director at the Detroit Justice Center, an abolitionist organization working alongside communities to end mass incarceration and create just cities.

Advisory Circle

Alex Thomas (he/him)

Advisory Circle

Alex grew up in West Willow, Ypsilanti Township. His neighborhood sits just “West” of the Willow Run Bomber Site, home of Rosie the Riveter fame and two subsequent automobile factories. Those factories have closed but the fight for working people continues. Today their families are suffering from years of economic decline and disenfranchisement. A result has been Ypsilanti Township’s disproportionate representation in our county’s carceral system. As a Community Advocate, with the Washtenaw County Public Health Department Alex supports residents struggling with root drivers of “crime” such as housing insecurity, mental health, and substance use disorder.

Bri Carpenter (she/her)

Advisory Circle

Bri is a former daycare owner who transitioned into the social work field in 2017. She holds an LLMSW, and will be clinically licensed in 2024. Her work experience includes: intimate partner violence and sexual assault case management, crisis line/on-call support for Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and sexual assault, mental health case management, emergency housing and permanent supportive housing (PSH) case management, and emergency housing and PSH program development. As of July 2023, Bri is working as Employee Experience Director (HR) for a local housing justice/permanent supportive housing agency.

Kimberli Montgomery (she/her)

Advisory Circle

Kimberli is the Programs and Services Director at Safe House Center, a domestic violence and sexual assault services organization located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Kimberli has worked in the field of domestic violence (DV) and sexual assault (SA) for 22 years, and coordinated the Shelter and 24-hour Helpline (crisis line) program at Safe House for 17 years.

Kat Layton (she/her)

Advisory Circle

Kat’s journey in disrupting parts of the criminal legal system began with personal experiences, including having a formerly incarcerated father. This foundational root has fueled her dedication to investing in communities and divesting from systems that exacerbate harm. With a Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan, her dedication to create positive social change led her to work with various public defender organizations, including the Neighborhood Defender Service of Detroit and the Ingham County Office of the Public Defender, where she served as a Criminal Defense Social Worker. In addition to her professional work, Kat is deeply engaged in community-based leadership roles, dedicated to amplifying the voices of historically marginalized communities and making a lasting impact on justice-impacted individuals and their communities.

Ashley Shukait (she/her)

Advisory Circle

Ashley Shukait, MPH, CHES, is a Liberatory Harm Reductionist and Public Health Consultant in Southeast Michigan. She has coordinated an underground local harm reduction and overdose prevention mutual aid group for over a decade, worked in healthcare, and managed a legacy syringe access program. Her work is dedicated to building power through collective action, centered on health equity, racial justice, and human rights. Ashley has done this through the development and implementation of program design, evaluation, training and research, that practices a strengths-based, trauma-healing foundation to dismantle structural and systemic oppression. Her advocacy developed out of survival, and has transformed into empowering individuals who use drugs to lead and co-design programs and policies that disproportionately impact them.

Matt Strang (he/him)

Advisory Circle

Matt is a student at Washtenaw Community College, currently working on a math/science degree and will be transferring into the UofM’s neuroscience program next year. Matt works for WCC’s Collegiate Recovery Program as a peer educator in the harm reduction and substance use space.

Support

Anna Lemler (she/her)

Facilitator

Anna is a racial justice community organizer and professional who organizes and builds towards a different world of interconnectedness, regeneration, and liberation for all beings and the earth. Her work focuses on dismantling the harms of the criminal punishment system while centering the strengths and power of community and collectives, including solidarity with Water Protectors. Anna is a politicized somatic coach supporting social movement leaders in their healing and transformation for the sake of collective liberation.

What We Do

Our Program

Care-Based Safety runs one program with two core components: Community Building, to resource communities to prevent harm and Care-Based Response, to respond to incidents before, during, or after conflict, crisis, and other community concerns (detailed below).

Our programs use a public health approach and are fully staffed by highly trained, well paid, peer workers. The program is supplemented and supported by unpaid volunteers (see below to plug in).

Based on the research of the Coalition to Re-Envision Our Safety (CROS) and 18 community listening sessions we held in 2023, the program will be: independent from City, County, or State government; separate from 911 and law enforcement; fully-funded to ensure reliability and sustainability; and peer-led. In addition to responding to conflict between individuals, the program will address structural violence (institutional neglect and discrimination), which creates and exacerbates the harm in our communities.

Safety, self-determination, dignity, and community consent guide all decisions for our program.

Community Building

Building Connections

Care-Based Safety believes that our connections to caring, supportive people are our primary source of safety. We all have an inherent need for belonging and attachment. Relationships that securely provide these needs are a source of safety when we experience crisis and conflict. To enhance our connections to one another, Care-Based Safety hosts free, public spaces to meet others, build relationships, and develop peer support networks. These opportunities center on meeting each other’s needs, advocating for change, and mutual aid.

Preventing Harm & Crisis Workshop Series

Care-Based Safety is also invested in enhancing the strengths and connections that already exist in our communities and relationships, so that our friends and neighbors don’t need to call for support. We host free, public trainings and workshops in de-escalation, nonviolence, conflict mediation, and safety planning.

We will also work with our partners to advocate for systemic changes, to address structural forms of violence that create and exacerbate crisis.

Follow us on instagram (@carebasedsafety) for updates on dates, times, and locations for the following skill-shares:

Alternatives to Calling the Police
De-escalation and empathic listening
Harm reduction and overdose prevention
Basic first aid and wound care
Pod-mapping & safety planning

Care-Based Response

Once fully funded, our Care-Based Response program will run a public phone number (not connected to 911) that people can call for support in a crisis or conflict without involving law enforcement. People who call may receive support in the following types of situations:

Conflict (disagreements, arguments, disputes) with family, friends, and neighbors;
Noise and other neighborhood complaints and disturbances;
Wellness checks for loved ones and neighbors;
After violence care (such as support following an incident of gun violence or assault).

The program is beginning with a pilot in and surrounding the downtown area of the City of Ypsilanti, running 2 days of the week for 4 hour periods at a time (June 2024 – August 2024). The pilot will inform growth over a five year period, to eventually become a 24/7 program.

During the pilot, our program will not respond to the following:

Incidents involving guns
Incidents involving knives being used as weapons
Active assault involving more than three people
Break-ins to homes, stores, or public spaces

Before responding to a call, Care Responders will have received training in:

De-escalation and non-violent intervention
Adult and Pediatric First Aid, CPR, and AED (Certified)
Mental Health First Aid
Harm reduction and safer use
Overdose prevention, reversal, and aftercare

Care Responders will never co-respond with police.

Ann Arbor RFP

After over two years of community investment in unarmed, non-police response in the City of Ann Arbor, Care-Based Safety was proud to be the only organization to submit a proposal to be the Unarmed Response Implementation provider for the City through their Request for Proposals (RFP) in 2023. Our response is aligned with and guided by community co-creation, founded on robust research in best practices across the country, and meets the criteria of what the City of Ann Arbor asked for.

In a closed session meeting on December 18, 2023, the City of Ann Arbor cancelled the RFP and said that they would open a new RFP with an “updated scope” in 2024. That RFP was posted in March 2024 and did not receive any proposals.

All of the information is linked here, with our full proposal (2023) linked for the public’s review (yellow).

The City of Ann Arbor Resolutions R21-129 and R23-235 resolve to create an unarmed response program in Ann Arbor and direct the City Administrator to create a Request for Proposals process to contract out the implementation of that project.

The Request for Proposals 23-42 is the “application” documenting what the City is asking for, how to apply, how proposals will be assessed/scored, and what the process will be.

Our full proposal (top) was submitted on September 19, 2023. Our response to the City’s statement justifying cancelling the RFP.

The City of Ann Arbor opened a second RFP (#24-16) for unarmed response with an updated scope, on March 1, 2024. The scope of the RFP was for 24/7 response, citywide, within one year. In addition, it detailed significant requirements for the contractor to call 911, refer calls to police, and report identifying details about calls.

In consultation with our Mission Circle and impacted community members, Care-Based Safety ultimately decided not to apply.

The April 18th deadline passed with no applications.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Growing Hope/Downtown Ypsilanti for the pilot?

Originally, we imagined a pilot program that spanned both Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. However, after not receiving the Ann Arbor ARPA funds, we went full force into centering Ypsilanti for our pilot launch. After much deliberation and conversation, we decided to have our place-based pilot at the downtown Ypsilanti location of Growing Hope—for multiple reasons:

It is centrally located, so if there is a need for de-escalation or overdose reversal at the bus stop, by the library, or any of the parks nearby, we are a walk away;

A core value of ours is going where our relationships are, and where we have been invited; our partners and concerned community members have invited us to station ourselves in an area where in the recent past, there has been over-policing of our people;

By providing services and programming at this space, we are creating opportunities for community members to find comfort, rest, and laughter without fear of suspicion or harassment from law enforcement;

We understand the need for non-police crisis response in other parts of town as well, and we are hopeful that when we have the funds to hire and train more responders, we can expand our reach to other affected individuals or heavily policed parts of town.

What is the plan for a program with a phone number and dispatch?

Currently, we are skilling up on response with our place-based pilot, as well as building community with the activities and wellness services we are making available at the site. While doing this, we are launching our workshop series which is aimed at equipping community members with the tools necessary to intervene, support, and help each other thrive without police. Our goal is still, ultimately, to provide a dispatch service response, where we are called to a location and can arrive, respond, and provide after-care and follow ups with folks. We are not losing sight of that goal, and in the meantime, we have heard consistent feedback from community members that starting small and being around is better than perfecting a program before diving in. As such, we are committed to running this summer’s place-based pilot with a lot of love and dedication.

Why is Care-Based Safety doing community building? What does it look like?

When the design team that predates Care-Based Safety did community listening sessions, something that came up consistently was the need to pair response with community building—folks were clear that there can be no response without relationships within the community. So, we are taking that seriously. We are hosting fun activities and wellness services—including wound and foot care, free hair care, trivia, Capoeira and Systema lessons, and teach-ins at the place-based pilot as a way of getting to know, support, and have fun with community! We are simultaneously running a free workshop series for community members to skill up on things like de-escalation, overdose reversal, and basic wound care, as a way of building trust and closeness. When the program was designed with community input as central, folks decided on a 50% response, 50% community building model, and we are staying true to that with these programs.

Is community-led response dangerous? Does working alongside police make for a safer model?

We firmly believe that a community-led model, not reliant on co-response with law enforcement is the best practice for responding to crisis. The National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI), notes that “people with mental illness are over 10 times as likely to experience use of force in interactions with law enforcement than those without mental illness,” and that a quarter of all fatal police shootings between 2015-2020 involved someone experiencing a mental health crisis. When people call for help, they deserve a response that centers care and honors their humanity. While some wonder if community-led response is dangerous for the responder, we focus on how response models that involve weapons and individuals not trained in mental health first aid and de-escalation are more dangerous for those in crisis; that is what drives our model. Our responders are trained and capable to use their best judgement on how to respond with care to each situation, rather than with a one-size-fits all model.

Why do you use a peer-responder model?

We believe that the people in the community, who are already doing the work daily to look out for their neighbors are best suited to respond to crisis. We know that response does not just mean entering a crisis, then leaving, but rather, it necessitates relationship building and trust, which is something that peers have with one another that government agencies and the state often lack. We understand that folks are helping one another survive 24/7 without help from outside the community, and rather than infiltrate this already existing response model, we want to uplift it, by working with peer responders to get them the tools and funding necessary to continue keeping each other safe!

How can I reach you?

If you are interested in volunteering or connecting on response, programming, and events, reach out to Sheri Wander (sheriw@carebasedsafety.org), or Amal Omer (amalo@carebasedsafety.org)!

If you have questions about operations, fundraising, or press inquiries, reach out to Liz Kennedy (LizK@carebasedsafety.org) or Robert Ramaswamy (RobertR@carebasedsafety.org)!

We look forward to hearing from you!

Ways to be Involved

Volunteer

Currently, we have volunteers who help facilitate workshops and assist with set up/programming for the place-based response. We are always looking for new ways to plug in volunteers and could use help with content design, fundraising, grant writing, and various other projects that come up.

If you have any interest in connecting with us as a volunteer, email amalo@carebasedsafety.org and she will get back to you with how to plug in based on your passions and skill set!

Newsletter & Urgent Updates

Join our email list for our quarterly newsletter and (infrequent) urgent updates about our programs and other opportunities to connect to our work.

Partners & Friends

Coalition for Reenvisioning Our Safety (CROS)

The Coalition for Reenvisioning Our Safety worked tirelessly for over a year to research, receive community input, and develop core elements necessary for the success of unarmed, non-police response in the City of Ann Arbor. They then spent years more, advocating for an unarmed, non-police response pilot in the City that aligned with those elements. Without their expertise in public health, community co-creation, systems change, research, and current systems of crisis response, we would be stuck in a paradigm of crisis response that is outdated and does not address the needs of our most marginalized community members. Care-Based Safety would not exist without CROS. We continue to advocate together for unarmed, non-police response with a public health approach.

Daytime Warming Center of Washtenaw County

Care-Based Safety works closely with the Warming Center throughout the winter by hosting activities like game day, art making, and support groups to build relationships and connections between guests and across communities.

Peace House Ypsi

Sheri Wander, the host of Peace House, was an essential member of Care-Based Safety’s design process and current lead of our Community Building program. We continue to work with Peace House, a house of hospitality, in our shared mission to help people to gain the tools, skills, and confidence to bandage their own and other’s wounds — and to confront and dismantle the systems that cause the bleeding.

Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice (ICPJ)

The Co-Directors of Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice were essential participants in developing the design of Care-Based Safety’s program, facilitating community co-creation sessions. We continue to work closely together in holding workshops and events that skill up our neighbors to respond to conflict and crisis toward our shared goals of co-liberation and dignity for all life. ICPJ is committed to healing as a diverse community by dismantling systems of violence and building our collective capacity to live our shared values of peace, justice, and ecological sustainability.

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Michigan Criminal Justice Team

AFSC’s director, Natalie Holbrook-Combs, coordinated the co-creation sessions of Care-Based Safety’s design with people who are currently and formerly incarcerated. Nat remains the Co-Chair of Care-Based Safety’s Mission Circle. We work closely with AFSC’s team in our shared mission to addresses the state violence of the criminal, legal, and imprisonment systems in our communities and build healing, wellness and full liberation for all. They also generously share their office as a space for our team to meet.

Detroit Justice Center

Nancy Parker, the Executive Director of Detroit Justice Center, currently sits on our Mission Circle. Nancy and the Detroit Justice Center have extended essential support in understanding the legal landscape surrounding unarmed, non-police response. We continue to work with DJC to understand how to ensure the legal rights of our neighbors and program participants are upheld and to reduce interactions with law enforcement and the criminal-legal system.

Graduate Employees Organization 3550

The Graduate Employees Organization participated in the co-creation process for Care-Based Safety, informing how our program could meet the needs of students and workers at the University of Michigan. We continue to mutually support each other in developing policy and infrastructure for unarmed, non-police crisis response to thrive and to build a culture of care-based safety that addresses the needs of workers.

Avalon Housing

Avalon Housing’s director, Aubrey Patiño, was essential to supporting the design of Care-Based Safety in alignment with the needs of people transitioning into permanent supportive housing. Their staff are members of our Advisory Circle, helping us to imagine what care-based, non-police crisis responses look like. We continue to work closely with Avalon Housing in developing programs that are supportive to their residents, and toward our shared mission of addressing the root causes of violence and crisis in our communities, through solutions like free, affordable, permanent, and supportive housing and housing as a human right.

Fed Up Ministries

We work closely with Fed Up Ministries through our daily programs, in alignment with our shared mission of meeting basic needs with dignity, alongside communities that are food insecure and economically exploited by unjust racial and economic systems in the United States. Fed Up and CBS are co-developing programs that will address the crises faced by people who are economically exploited, through mutual aid and building networks of support.

Growing Hope

Care-Based Safety and Growing Hope share the mission of meeting the basic needs of our communities as a means of care, connection, and dignity. We have and will continue to work together in creative interventions that address issues of unmet needs, harm, and absence of free, communal spaces in downtown Ypsilanti.

Washtenaw Camp Outreach

As Care-Based Safety develops its response program, we will work closely with Washtenaw Camp Outreach to respond to the survival and crisis needs of people who are currently unhoused and living in tents, through mutual aid and solidarity. We are equally committed to building networks of care and support, and upholding the self-determination and dignity of all of our neighbors regardless of housing status.

Circling Back Peer Support Network

Care-Based Safety and Circling Back have a shared commitment to mutual aid and peer support, and have worked together consistently to address the social and material needs of people who are unhoused and precariously housed. Circling Back and CBS have plans to work together, when funding is available, on our shared dream of a mobile van with basic needs supplies that can be delivered directly to people in crisis as well as transport people to maintain connections throughout the community.

Southeast Michigan Pull Over Prevention (POP)

Care-Based Safety is proud to participate in Pull Over Prevention, a monthly program that assists people in repairing their cars and bikes in order to reduce interactions with law enforcement through pretext stops related to taillights, headlights, and other issues. POP includes a mutual aid fair, where local organizations provide free resources like pet food, nutritious meals, harm reduction supplies, wound care supplies, hygiene items, clothing, and more. We share POP’s aim to build a community of mutual aid and solidarity, so we can avoid confrontations with law enforcement.

Wolverine Street Medicine

As Care-Based Safety develops its response program, we will work with Wolverine Street Medicine to respond to the first aid and health needs of people who are currently unhoused and living in tents. Care-Based Safety, Washtenaw Camp Outreach, and Wolverine Street Medicine are currently co-developing a public health, equity-based camp outreach program for Summer 2024.

The Neutral Zone

The Neutral Zone participated in our co-creation process to design an unarmed, non-police crisis response program that aligns with the needs of teens and young adults in Ann Arbor. We share a commitment to supporting the self-determination and leadership of young people, and look forward to working together when we are able to implement our programs in the City of Ann Arbor.

Homelessness Solidarity Network

Care-Based Safety is a proud member of the Homelessness Solidarity Network, a group of connected organizations and people who are unhoused or who are addressing the needs of people who are currently unhoused or precariously housed across Washtenaw County. As a network, we share information about our programs, strategize about advocacy, and show up for each other to better meet the needs of our neighbors.

A Brighter Way

Care-Based Safety and A Brighter Way share a commitment to supporting formerly incarcerated people build a stable, successful and fulfilling life through strong relationships. We hope to continuously build collaborative opportunities that reduce recidivism and increase public safety, through connection.

Ypsi NICE

Ypsi Neighbors Improving Community Engagement (Ypsi NICE)

Care-Based Safety and Ypsi NICE share a commitment to unarmed, non-police response options in the City of Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township. We work together to explore opportunities to advocate for and develop non-police programs serving these communities.

Ypsi Civic Education and Action

Care-Based Safety and Ypsi Civic are committed to advancing political education that empowers people to understand where their tax dollars are going and how local politics impact Ypsi residents’ every day lives.