POLICE REFORM
Mission: The Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) believes that a thriving multiracial democracy requires racial, social and economic justice for all. African Americans and black immigrants are stronger together and we can win by becoming leaders in the fight against structural racism and systemic discrimination. BAJI was formed to bring Black voices together to advocate for equality and justice in our laws and our communities. BAJI educates and engages African American and black immigrant communities to organize and advocate for racial, social and economic justice.
Website: http://blackalliance.org/programs/baji-nyc/
Phone: 347-410-5312
Email: http://blackalliance.org/contact-us/
What volunteers do:
- attend monthly meetings and plan campaigns and events to advance a collective vision for transformation (current campaigns include Safety Beyond Policing; Freedom Film Series; Private Prison Divestment; ICE-free NYC)
Mission: The Brooklyn Movement Center (BMC) is a membership-led, direct-action, community organizing body based in Central Brooklyn (Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights and the surrounding area). We bring together residents to develop local leadership, identify important issues in their lives, win concrete improvements in the community, and build power. We establish relationships with a growing base of local people and mobilize them to: identify social and economic issues of critical importance to them; acquire the information and leadership skills necessary to transform our community; change local conditions and win concrete improvement in their lives; join broad coalitions and build alliances with other communities; create long-term, structural change through the reform of city, state, and national policies.
Website: http://brooklynmovementcenter.org/get-involved/
Phone: 718-771-7000
Email: n/a
What volunteers do:
- join Black-led, member-led committees on food justice, environmental justice, street harassment, District 16 schools, police accountability
- work on mobilizations, legislative campaigns, political training
FYI:
- all welcome, but (non-Black) solidarity members may not take leadership roles
Borough: Brooklyn
Mission: Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) is an unprecedented campaign to end discriminatory policing practices in New York, bringing together a movement of community members, lawyers, researchers and activists to work for change. The partners in this campaign come from all 5 boroughs, from all walks of life and represent many of those most unfairly targeted by the NYPD. This groundbreaking campaign is fighting for reforms that will promote community safety while ensuring that the NYPD protects and serves all New Yorkers. We are a movement that is here to stay – a campaign that will be a visible, lasting presence on the streets of neighborhoods citywide. We will be in communities and on the streets, educating people about their rights; and in the courts and on the steps of City Hall and the state capitol, demanding change to the NYPD -- until these policies end.
Website: http://changethenypd.org
Phone: n/a
Email: justice@changethenypd.org
What volunteers do:
- graphic design
- data-entry
- translate/interpret
- photography
- leaflet
- other event-based or project-based activities
Borough: Citywide
Mission: Equality for Flatbush (E4F) is a people of color-led, multi-national grassroots organization that does anti-police repression, affordable housing, and anti-gentrification organizing in the Flatbush and East Flatbush communities of Brooklyn, NY. Historically the NYPD has served as an occupying force of predominantly working class migrant and people of color of neighborhoods. Equality for Flatbush is working to end police violence, repression, and occupation of East Flatbush and Flatbush. We condemn policies such as “Stop and Frisk” and “Broken Windows” policing that has led to countless incidents of the violation of civil rights, brutality and murder of our community members. Equality for Flatbush is a resource for people to report police misconduct, organize a community response and demand justice.
Website: http://www.equalityforflatbush.org/anti-police-repression/
Membership list for residents of East Flatbush and Flatbush: equality-for-flatbush-organizing-list@googlegroups.com
Volunteer signup sheet: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/b4g-volunteers
Email: policework@equalityforflatbush.org
Phone: 646-820-6039 or Español (513) 445-8532 or Kréyol (707) 200-3692
What volunteers do:
- film/record police abuses
- conduct traffic stop/checkpoint surveys
- community patrols with East Flatbush CopWatch team
- conduct CopWatch and Know Your Rights trainings
- maintain hotline for dollar-van and cab drivers who are stopped/profiled
- organize legal and political support for individuals who have experienced police violence and/or harassment
FYI:
- to participate in CopWatch, must be 18 years or older, a person of color, and a Flatbush or East Flatbush resident
Borough: Brooklyn
Mission: The Gathering for Justice is a social justice organization founded by Harry Belafonte in 2005. Led since 2010 by Executive Director Carmen Perez, The Gathering utilizes Kingian nonviolence as a social application for change and civic engagement. The organization is unique in that we provide direct services, engage artists and cultural leaders as foot soldiers in grassroots mobilization, and consult and advise on legislative and policy initiatives while organizing in local and national communities – all to sustain and build this Movement, the essence of which is grounded in the Movement for Racial Equality. Since 2013, The Gathering and our social justice task force Justice League NYC, have been building justice initiatives on multiple fronts. Our work includes leading policy initiatives for police accountability; bringing in individuals and groups from diverse communities to organize as a ‘family coalition’ in order to capitalize on our combined power and build the agenda for sustained black and brown liberation; being the catalyst for the re-introduction of federal legislation to end racial profiling and stop the militarization of law enforcement; engaging a serious and sustained effort for Raise the Age in NY State; and creating a blueprint – in the form of a substantive list of demands – for criminal justice redress and accountability for NY City and State.
Website: http://www.gatheringforjustice.org/volunteer
Email: nyjusticeleague@gmail.com
Phone: n/a
What volunteers do:
- research committee (research laws, policies, and statistics related to ongoing/future Justice League campaigns)
- direct action committee (organize protests and marches)
- communications committee (relay information to and update the public on Justice League campaigns, actions, and issues facing our community)
- outreach committee (social media, recruit new volunteers)
- policy committee (draft policy and do research for ongoing/future legislative campaigns)
Mission: For 25 years, Jews For Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ) has pursued racial and economic justice in New York City by advancing systemic changes that result in concrete improvements in people’s everyday lives. We are inspired by Jewish tradition to fight for a sustainable world with an equitable distribution of economic and cultural resources and political power. The movement to dismantle racism and economic exploitation will be led by those most directly targeted by oppression. We believe that Jews have a vital role to play in this movement. The future we hope for depends on Jews forging deep and lasting ties with our partners in struggle.
Website: http://jfrej.org/get-involved-2/
Phone: 212-647-8966 x11
Email: leo@jfrej.org
What volunteers do:
- after orientation, members work on police accountability; workforce rights for home healthcare workers; fighting Islamophobia; movement building through arts and storytelling; and outreach
- special caucuses for Mizrahi Jews, Jews of Color, and poor and working-class Jews
- long-term campaigns and targeted actions