CONTACT:
Abolitionist Law Center: Sam Lew, sam@alcenter.org, 415-272-8022
Amistad Law Project: Nikki Grant, nikki@amistadlaw.org, 407-353-8499

WHAT: Public demonstration featuring speakers from the community, including:

• Rev. Holston, 57 Blocks Coalition
• Kris Henderson, Treatment Not Trauma Coalition
• Devren Washington, People’s Tech Project
• LaTonya Meyers, Above All Odds & Still We Rise Coalition
• Rodney Gardner, Youth Art & Self-Empowerment Project

WHO: Abolitionist Law Center, Alliance for a Just Philadelphia, Amistad Law Project, People’s Tech Project, Treatment Not Trauma, Still We Rise, Philly Muslim Freedom Fund

WHERE: North side of Philadelphia City Hall

WHEN: Tuesday, April 8, at 9:15 a.m.

As the Philadelphia City Council considers Mayor Parker’s budget proposal, a coalition of community-based organizations will rally outside City Hall on Tuesday to urge the mayor and city council to stop pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into outmoded forms of public safety, reassess what is working in public safety in the city, and make a real and informed plan about comprehensive public safety before advancing the $1.2 billion that is currently slated to go to city police and prisons.

Over the last two years, Philadelphia has experienced the biggest dropoff in crime and violence in its history even while the city has had 1000 unfilled full-time police positions. Despite this fact, Mayor Parker’s 2026 public safety budget allots nearly all of its money to hiring and training new police recruits and upgrading various police and law enforcement technology. With major federal funding cuts around the corner, the coalition is calling on the city to not lock in these permanent new expenses to its police budget and instead distribute this money to underfunded public schools, parks, libraries, and critical social services.

The demonstrators will also ask the city to take steps to increase funding to several non-police public safety entities who have contributed significantly to the drop in crime in previous years, especially mobile crisis units, community-based violence prevention, and harm reduction interventions like the safe syringe program that the mayor’s budget completely cut last year. The coalition will also demand that City Council pressure the mayor’s administration to fight for the recently created Citizens Police Oversight Commission to be able to fulfill its mission and perform full and independent investigations. Finally, community organizations are asking the city to affirm its status as a sanctuary city and pledge to not share information or resources with federal ICE agencies.

Full budget demands here.

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