AIR Equity Initiative Roundtable Series – Building Bridges to Equity: Data-Informed Approaches to Cultivate Peaceful Communities

Baltimore police officer and community member

Public safety is essential to a thriving community—influencing our life opportunities, health, and well-being. Yet communities across the nation are grappling with complex issues as they seek to improve public safety.

Photo courtesy of the Baltimore Police Department

With policing central to these discussions, the AIR Equity Initiative hosted a two-part roundtable series to explore data-informed efforts to enhance equitable public safety experiences—especially for those affected by the harms of historic racial and social inequities.

Researchers, practitioners, law enforcement, community stakeholders, and policy advocates discussed their work to create peaceful, thriving communities for all. This two-part discussion explored efforts to (1) reimagine public safety and (2) reform policing, while considering the tensions that exist within both approaches. We hope participants left with an enhanced sense of urgency and commitment to cultivating equity in public safety and policing within their sphere of influence.

View the event recordings below.

Host

Shakira Munden
Senior Program Officer
AIR Equity Initiative

Moderator

Nicholas Sensley
Founder and CEO
Institute for American Police Reform

Panel 2: Research, Investment, Strategy, and Responsibility to Community in Policing

Thursday, December 8, 2022

Read the blog post summarizing this session: Cultivating Thriving Communities: Fostering Dignity Through Equitable Representation.

Part two of this justice roundtable delved into policing, with the goal of bridging the divide between the socio-historical experiences of communities and public safety goals. The panel explored the roles of partnership, investment, research evidence, and practice in the journey to create equitable, thriving communities for all.

Panelists

Nancy E. Cantor, Ph.D., AIR Board Member

Nancy Cantor
AIR Board of Directors
Chancellor, Rutgers University, Newark

Philip Goff
Co-founder and CEO, Center for Policing Equity
Professor of African American Studies and Psychology, Yale University

Iliana Pujols
Policy Director, Connecticut Justice Alliance
American Youth Policy Forum

Ta-Tanisha Wallace
Director of Research
National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform

Panel 1: Diversity, Dignity, and Data in Public Safety Systems

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Read the blog post summarizing this session: Public Safety: The Role of Data in Ensuring Dignity and Creating Thriving Communities.

Part one of this two-part justice roundtable fostered a deeper understanding of the possibilities for cultivating peaceful communities. Panelists representing diverse perspectives discussed the role of data and dignity in the current state of public safety systems and envisioned data-informed public safety approaches that more equitably respond to the needs of every community.