What
We Do
BBP programming is designed to support members in building collective power, enhancing strategies and tactics, dismantling police power and building new models and paradigms.
The society we envision offers universal access to safety rooted in the fundamental belief that all people have the right to live dignified lives where their basic needs are met.
Our mission is to advance long-term strategies that radically reconstruct society away from policing and imprisonment and systems that reproduce cycles of harm, putting the safety and well-being of communities at risk and create models and approaches that foster a society built on compassion, accountability, and collective liberation.
We envision thriving communities free of imprisonment, policing, and surveillance where people have the economic and political power to redress past harms, advance the well-being of everyone, and reestablish their relationship to power outside of systems rooted in domination and punishment.
Learning Spaces and Resource Sharing
BBP employs a multifaceted approach to foster connection, learning, and collaboration among its members for scenario planning, strategy discussions about challenging movement dynamics and complex framework questions, and developing long-term strategy.
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The Annual BBP Network Convening serves as a focal point, bringing members together to share insights, experiences, and strategies. Members consistently share that the space allows for building deeper alignment around shared visions, strategies and tactics. We host peer learning sessions to expand the breadth and depth of movement scenario planning; proactively address challenging movement dynamics and address complex campaign questions members are struggling with.
The Learning Exchange provides a unique opportunity for members to connect and learn from each other’s police abolition programs and campaigns through two-way immersive site visits. We are investing in the publication of “How We Did This” campaign and programming publications. This initiative addresses the challenge of documenting and sharing abolitionist campaign and program success stories by providing support, including a writer and design team, to BBP network members.
These programs ensure that the BBP Network members have multiple avenues for building relationships, collaborations and exchanges of knowledge and experiences.
Research and Practice
As we envision and practice new safety strategies, we are bound to experience failures. The BBP Grant Program funds community-based safety programs, creating space for organizations to learn, evolve, and practice towards more effective approaches to safety.
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Organizations, organizers, and artists are funded to plan, implement or expand programs and projects that are non-punitive, non-carceral, and prevention-oriented. We have designed a straightforward and accessible application process to ensure that potential grantees can articulate their vision and needs effectively.
As BBP members, grantees have access to the peer learning sessions and technical assistance on program design. Our larger research goal is to shift the safety paradigm away from surveillance and punishment toward healing and thriving communities through the development of Safety and Wellness Indicators and a long-term narrative and research blueprint that decouples policing from safety and connects economic security and community infrastructure to safety.