I attended a Carer Info Session with REP (Relationships Evolving Possibilities) today. Among other things, REP hosts a secure hotline for the community that people can call to on Friday and Saturday nights as an alternative to calling the police. REP takes calls, emails or texts about things such as noise complaints, mental health crises or certain ‘welfare checks’. Callers receive direct support in the form of referrals, resources or site visits. CARER stands for Community Aid Resourcing and Emergency Response, offering an alternative to ‘responder’ or ‘dispatcher’. Creative and fresh approaches are embedded in every aspect of REP. It’s evident that big imagination for the future, respect for what exists in other orgs and cities and gratitude for ancestral wisdom guide the work.

A new cohort of CARER trainees is forming with applications due on August 18, 2023. Information in the side bar. CARERs will go through 50+ hours of training to be dispatchers and responders. Trainings will be September 9 – December 9, meeting bi-weekly on Saturdays on Zoom. There will be online training modules (a combination of reading, videos, and interactivity) to be completed prior to the training sessions and 2 in-person trainings in December.

We are seeking a cohort that is at least 75% BIPOC identified and majority queer/trans identified. We will determine the size of the cohort based on these percentages, meaning the cohort size will be determined by the number of BIPOC participants.

REP stands for many things! Among them are:

Radical Ecosystem Pods: Radical Ecosystem Pods fortify existing networks and support the creation of new networks by improving relationships between neighbors, identifying webs of support that already exist within reach, and reimagining what loving community looks like. Learn more here.

2. Revolutionary Emergency Partners: When a crisis or problem can’t be addressed by our existing support network, we need a trusted resource to call for help. REP’s Revolutionary Emergency Partners provide emergency care to community members via a secure hotline. Learn more here.

HOTLINE NUMBER: 952-737-3730

“Toward the goal of keeping the community safe without police, we call on REP’s three core values: Black love and liberation, ancestral knowledge and radical consent to help us love and protect each other. ”

— Jason Sole, Abolitionist

WHO

Relationships Evolving Possibilities (REP) is a network of dedicated abolitionists showing up to support others in moments of crisis or urgency, with care and respect for the full dignity and autonomy of the people in crisis.

We work, organize, and care for one another with deep respect and gratitude for the enduring legacies and influence of revolutionaries before and with us still. We are the ripples of the movement of fellow abolitionist organizers in Minneapolis including AIM Patrol, MPD150, Resmaa Menakem, Ricardo Levins Morales and countless others who dream of collective liberation from state-sanctioned violence.

WHEN

During the start of the uprising in late May and early June 2020, Jason Sole and Signe Harriday worked together on crisis response in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

REP is now in year 3 of a 10 year commitment of prototyping systems of care, by us and for us, that can support our hoods in times of crisis and help us take back our power from police.

WHY

Rox Anderson, Josina Manu Maltzman, and Susan Raffo were invited to create a core team, and connected with Steve Scofield at Warecorp to develop an app that could support communities dealing with emergencies, but in alignment with principles of abolition, transformative justice, radical love, and community power. Over many months, they learned from and alongside local and national folx doing the critical work of loving and responding to community challenges in life affirming ways.