If you agree that we must urgently transform our system of public safety to center care rather than punishment or violence, please sign on to show your support for the People’s Response Act today.

Sonya Massey should still be alive. After she reached out for help and called 911 during a mental health emergency last month, a police officer shot and murdered her in her own home.

To save lives, we need alternative crisis responses that center care and safety -- not armed police who regularly kill Black Americans.

Polls show that 88% of Black Americans support hiring mental health professionals as non-police first responders to de-escalate mental health crises. Instead of punitive and violent responses to crises, appropriately trained and unarmed health experts should be sent to support people experiencing health emergencies. That’s part of how we address the urgent crisis of racist police violence.

To help keep our communities safe from police violence and create true public safety for all of us, we need policies like the People's Response Act, which would:

• Create a Division on Community Safety within the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate non-carceral, non-punitive, health-centered investments in public safety.

• Launch a federal first responders unit to support states and local governments with emergency health crises.

• Provide $11 billion in grant funding for community-based organizations and state and local governments to fund public safety and improve crisis response.

• Establish a $2.5 billion First Responder Hiring Grant to create thousands of jobs and provide funding for governments and organizations to hire emergency first responders such as licensed social workers, mental health counselors, substance use counselors, and peer support specialists.

To help build a world where Black and marginalized people can call for help and not risk being murdered by police, please add your name in support of the People's Response Act now.