Welcome to the Community Wellness and Solidarity page. This group is a project of the UC-IMC which aims to convene the community to discuss problems and recommend solutions to increase community safety and wellness in ways that center on impacted residents, are trauma-informed and are guided by race, gender, and class equity.

Get involved!

Sign up for the newsletter here. 

Sign up to be on the community discussion listserv here. 

Check out the Community Solidarity Blog - www.ucimc.org/commsol_blog

City of Urbana Alternative Response Taskforce will be run by LEAP (Law Enforcement Action Partnership) - First Meeting Monday 10/6 at 7pm

City of Urbana will be hosting an informational meeting about the Alternative Response Taskforce. City of Urbana's page about alternative response Don't miss out! 

The Alternative Response Taskforce is a group of local leaders who will meet to design an alternative response program for Urbana - LEAP will convene the group and write the final summary of findings and recommendations. 

A presentation on their work creating an Alternative Response team in Evanston, IL. 

LEAP is a group of current and former law enforcement workers who advocate for criminal justice reform. They spoke at the IMC on Alternative Response models in March of 2024 - watch it here. 

Watch the presentation at the beginning of the council meeting here.

Surveillance Oversight Ordinance

The City of Urbana has been discussing an ordinance that would require surveillance technology to go through a public review process and approval by City Council. They will be discussing and voting on the ordinance after the budget is passed. This this a common sense measure that should be replicated in all our local jurisdictions. 

Here are a few reasons this is especially critical: 

ALPRs are Being Used to Track Women Receiving Healthcare in Illinois

ALPRs are Being Used to Help ICE in Illinois

The University of Illinois Real Time Information Center proposes to leverage 3,000 cameras, artificial intelligence, a wide array of surveillance tools, and social media monitoring of “public sentiment” to undertake warrant-less mass surveillance in our community. 

Local voters said "no" to more spending on law enforcement and punitive measures

Champaign County's Public Safety Sales Tax did not pass. 

Champaign County was asking for yet another public safety sales tax which would raise ~$6.5 to $7 million per year for the criminal justice system by increasing the cost of consumer goods purchased in our county. The Board has not committed to a clear plan for how they would spend the funds but they have suggested that the bulk would go to the Sheriff's Department and State's Attorney's Office with a small percentage going to the Public Defender's Office. Learn more here: www.ucimc.org/salestax

Thanks to your voice: alternative response fund, social service funding, and fewer new police hires

Thanks to hundreds of petition signers and city council meeting attendees, the Urbana City Council held strong with fewer police funding and added more funding for social services.

While this is not a perfect outcome, we should be proud that we held the line at 5 additional staff in the police department (down from the requested 11).

Check out this fact sheet to learn more about the issue.

Learn more about some of the recent work of the UC-IMC and Community Wellness and Solidarity group including the Public Safety Forum recordings here.