LYNN — The Lynn Racial Justice Coalition is hosting a community briefing on Wednesday at 6 p.m. about the All Lynn Emergency Response Team (ALERT).
This event will be hosted at the Bethel AME Church at 72 Silsbee St. to discuss the unarmed crisis-response team that would provide community care and public safety for people experiencing behavioral-health crises, housing insecurity, neighbor disputes and other non-violent emergencies separate from the police.
Community leaders, service providers and all residents are invited to attend.
“It has been nearly a year since the Lynn Racial Justice Coalition (LRJC) fought to secure $500,000 in the Lynn city budget to fund ALERT, yet, today there is no functioning ALERT Program,” said the Rev. Bernadette Hickman-Maynard, co-chair of Lynn Racial Justice Coalition and ECCO racial-justice organizer. “We will gather to educate the community and discuss how a safe and effective unarmed crisis-response team would benefit the City of Lynn.”
At the event, Mariela Ruiz-Angel, director of the Community Safety Department of Albuquerque, N.M., will share her experience of building a separate city department of unarmed crisis responders.
Lynn residents and service providers Emily Fish, assistant director of Roca Inc., and Stephanie Rana, area director for the Justice Resource Institute, will also share their perspectives on why Lynn needs an unarmed crisis response.
A question and answer session will follow this presentation.
The Lynn Racial Justice Coalition includes the IUE-CWA Local 201, Lynn United for Change, North Shore Juneteenth Association, Prevent the Cycle, Diverse People United, New Lynn Coalition, and the Essex County Community Organization.
For more information, contact Hickman-Maynard at [email protected], or Co-Chair of the Lynn Racial Justice Coalition Adriana Paz at [email protected].
