Coalitions

O‘ahu Rapid Response Coalition

The O‘ahu Rapid Response Coalition (ORRC) rose from the collaboration of several grassroots organizations, nonprofits, churches, and community advocates to affirm our shared humanity in the face of this oppressive and cruel system that tries to divide us. We are committed to organizing, defending, and caring for one another because no human is illegal on this shared planet.

What does the ORRC do?

  • We educate the public about our rights
  • We operate a hotline to intake and verify ICE sightings
  • We dispatch Rapid Response volunteers to observe and document ICE activities
  • We distribute community alerts
  • We refer victims to support

Sign up to be an ORRC volunteer: https://tinyurl.com/ORRCInterest

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Reimagining Public Safety in Hawai'i Coalition

The Reimagining Public Safety in Hawaiʻi Coalition is a diverse group of Hawaiʻi based organizations and everyday residents that bring both lived experience and expertise from a range of sectors including public health, the criminal legal system, economic revitalization, restorative justice, police oversight and accountability, mental health, street medicine and harm reduction, among others.

The coalition is working to transform Hawai‘i’s safety system away from policing and incarceration toward an intersectional public health and wellness based approach to community safety. This includes advancing policies that reduce incarceration through deploying non-police responders, diversion, and addressing the root causes of poverty and crime. We seek to disrupt the incarceration pipeline, provide people with real opportunities to succeed, and minimize the need for policing because communities are strong, resourced, and thriving.

The Coalition is committed to racial justice and equity, and acknowledges that Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and African Americans are disparately impacted by our criminal legal system in Hawaiʻi. Members of the coalition are working daily to advance community based solutions that are responsive to the unique cultural, historical, and political landscape in Hawaiʻi.

We appreciate the report issued by the Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) and agree with the bottom-line conclusion that we need to focus on decarceration before any conversation continues about replacing OCCC. You can find and read their report here: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/PPI_OCCC_Memo.pdf

The Reimagining Public Safety (RPS) Coalition seeks to transform Hawaiʻi’s safety system away from policing and incarceration toward an intersectional, public health and wellness-based approach to community safety. This principle guided discussions that ultimately produced the Reimagining Public Safety Budget State of Hawaiʻi 2025 Recommendations.

Throughout 2023 and 2024, key public safety advocates across the state convened to identify opportunities to dramatically reduce incarceration through diversion and investments to address root causes of crime. These included police, prosecutors, public defenders, judges, service providers, and criminal justice experts.

The recommendations presented reflected broad agreement among justice system advocates and service providers regarding current resource gaps and specific investments that can significantly reduce the cycle of incarceration in Hawaiʻi. It is the goal of the RPS Coalition to shift spending priorities away from enforcement and incarceration and toward community-focused spending.

Follow the coalition's work on Facebook and Instagram.

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Hawai'i Alliance for Cannabis Reform

The Hawai‘i Alliance for Cannabis Reform is dedicated to ending cannabis prohibition in Hawai’i and replacing it with a system of legalization and regulation, with a focus on reparative justice and inclusion. Hawai‘i residents support legalizing cannabis use for adults. Cannabis prohibition entails direct enforcement costs. Legalization makes it possible to regulate and control cannabis in order to promote public health and safety.

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