Aqeela Sherrills

Brenda Glass, a survivor of violence from Cleveland, Ohio.

Brenda started Cleveland's first trauma recovery center, but had to cash in her retirement fund just to keep her doors open.

And despite being the city's only 24-hour assistant for victims, it took the city five years before they granted her money.

Another champion is my brother Lyle Muhammad from Miami, who employs credible messengers in some of the most violent neighborhoods, but struggles to provide a livable wage and ongoing training for his staff.

These often overlooked groups are most of the time ineligible for public funding, but what they do have is deep commitment, lived experience, trust, and community support.

Now, other cities are primed to replicate the successes that we had in Newark and following the steps of leaders like Brenda and Lau.

But very few essential community organizations have the know-how to become a permanent part of the city's public safety workforce.

Family, we're about to change all of that with a generous investment from the Audacious Ted community and support from people just like you.

We're launching Scaling Safety, an initiative to put the public back in public safety.

Our solution is simple.

Redefine public safety by investing in a coordinated set of high-impact, resident-led programs that create real, lasting change.

In 2021, I launched a community-based public safety collective to spread the newer Community Street Team strategy nationwide.

We've already helped 150 organizations in 60-plus cities.

Now we're teaming up with the Alliance for Safety and Justice, the nation's leader in public safety advocacy.

ASJ has unlocked $3 billion in funding and led 150 policy reforms to support community safety programs.

Together, we're creating a stronger, more effective approach to safety, one that complements law enforcement and breaks the cycle of harm.

Now, addressing violence is extremely complex.

But just as we no longer rely on hospitals and emergency rooms alone to improve public health, we cannot rely on the justice system alone to create safety.

In public health, community health workers emerged to improve preventative health care by training residents in outreach and peer support.

They've reduced the burdens on emergency rooms and improved public health.