- State your name and your organization (or your neighborhood);
- If relevant, share a little bit about your organization and your mission. Who do you serve? Or perhaps this is a time to write from the perspective of your neighborhood.
- Why does the issue of non-police first response matter to you?
-Is it because of the high arrests of unhoused people?
-How legal entanglements drive people deeper into poverty, including creating barriers to housing and employment?
-How the 911 system is bogged down with calls about non-criminal matters, including a so-called unwanted person call every 15 minutes?
-How, as the Portland Police Bureau’s Strategic Insights Report showed, the public overwhelmingly distrusts police and is beleaguered by slow response time? - Describe how the city needs to develop a Portland Street Response, a new system of first responders. Here are some possible areas to emphasize:
– The plan proposes six teams of medics and peer support specialists with training in de-escalation who can respond with compassion to 911 calls about people struggling with homelessness and behavioral health crises.
-Not every crisis is a crime. We need to match the right first responder to the crisis.
-The Portland Street Response is based on the 30-year-old CAHOOTS model in Eugene.
-Based on discussions with Bureau of Emergency Communications, Street Roots estimates that six 24-hour-teams-of-two (a medic and a peer support specialist crisis worker) could meet our demand.
-Portland Street Response needs to be a big effort. It’s only if people all across the city can recognize it can it be seen as an actual alternative.
-We need to make this easy for residents of the city to feel the impact.
-The teams must be highly trained in crisis response, and CAHOOTS can help with this training. - Do you have a personal story that matters to this issue?
- Thank the Mayor and Commissioners for budgeting the pilot, and let them know this needs to be a city priority for full funding.
- Thank the Mayor and Commissioners for their time.
a campaign by Street Roots Advocacy