New Haven, CT – With the acceptance by the Common Council of Ithaca of the final report submitted to it by Ithaca’s Reimagining Public Safety Working Group, and the Council’s subsequent vote to create the new civilian position of Deputy Chief of Staff for Public Safety, the Center for Policing Equity (CPE) celebrates the completion of a nearly two-year long partnership with the city of Ithaca, New York as part of the Reimagining Public Safety project. We look forward to the community’s ongoing work to ensure that key findings of the final report are implemented, and remain available to offer any assistance the community may seek in the future.
CPE wishes also to express our admiration, respect, and gratitude to everyone who has participated in the Reimagining Public Safety Working Group, many of whom were not only instrumental to the working group’s inception but crucial to its success and are even now acting to see the final report disseminated and its recommendations put into place.
Among the Working Group’s members are:
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- Community Leaders of Color (CLOC) – CLOC is a coordinating resource and organizing hub for communities of color in Ithaca and Tompkins County, mobilizing those communities to advocate for social justice and participate fully in civic life. CLOC’s input and participation have been and will continue to be critical to the project of collaboratively redesigning public safety in Ithaca and Tompkins County.
- Southside Community Center – Southside centers its work on affirming and empowering the Black community, from a foundational understanding that community is about much more than geographic location, reflecting instead shared beliefs, identities, and values. Southside’s roots and outreach in Ithaca rendered them invaluable throughout the reimagining public safety process, and they remain among those leading the way forward.
- The Latino Civic Association of Tompkins County (LCA) is a volunteer organization dedicated to fostering a united Latino community across Tompkins County by providing a platform for social, cultural, educational, and civic expression. LCA’s reach and its commitment to that mission have made it an irreplaceable collaborator and will be indispensable to the continued success of the reimaging public safety project.
- The Community Justice Center is responsible for implementing the recommendations found in the final report of the Reimagining Public Safety Working Group; Project Director Monalita Smiley brings an unrivaled depth of experience in building connections across and within vulnerable communities, and her lifelong commitment to equity and social justice promises to be invaluable to the ongoing work of reimagining public safety in Ithaca and Tompkins County.
To learn more about the outstanding work of these organizations and others, please click here to read the Working Group’s final report: Implementing the City of Ithaca’s New Public Safety Agency.