In honor of National Reunification Month, Lindsay Reilly, a parent impacted by the family policing system, discusses her experiences with peer support both during her ACS case and since she reunified with her two youngest children last year. She also shares her message to parents working to reunify their families. Lindsay will graduate from the Rise & Shine Parent Leadership Program in June.
In honor of National Reunification Month, Jeanette Vega, assistant director at Rise, discusses how Rise supports reunification of families separated by the foster system, explains how this work connects to our goal of abolition and highlights Rise resources by and for parents impacted by the system. She also shares a message to parents working to reunify with their children.
Rise Community Coordinator Halimah Washington reflects on the March to Defund the NYPD on May 25th and parents’ calls to reverse over-investment in family policing and under-investment in communities
Here, she explains how the movement to defund the police (NYPD) and the movement to abolish family policing (ACS) have shared goals—shifting funding away from systems of policing and instead investing in communities and community-led solutions.
Q. Who organized the march and what was its purpose?
A. The rally … Read More
I found out about the Narcan training when I was a part of a board in my community. Someone came to a meeting and asked us if we wanted to learn how to use Narcan. I said, “Yes.” I was motivated to take the training because I knew people that use drugs and I wanted to learn how to save them in case of an overdose.
We need to take care of the people in our community — because if we don’t, who will? We have to make sure our community is safe to live in. Taking the Narcan training is one way to contribute to collective care.
Fear of the family policing system can prevent families from accessing needed resources and support. Through community-led mutual aid, community members support each other, often responding more quickly than systems and without intrusive processes or the threat of a report to ACS for not having food or resources for your family.
Here, Kelvin Taitt, co-founder of East Brooklyn Mutual Aid and a community organizer in the Ocean Hill and Brownsville areas of Brooklyn, New York, discusses how mutual aid is different from services through the system, building relationships, keeping resources in the community and supporting investment in Black-owned businesses.