Deadline: 19-Nov-21
Are you passionate about improving public safety and policing in the United States? If yes, then apply for Reimagine Public Safety Challenge to accelerate a range of better alternatives for point of crisis situations otherwise likely to result in an unwarranted police encounter, emergency room visit, incarceration, injury, or death.
The Stand Together Ventures Lab Accelerator is the phase in which selected applicants receive funding based on their solutions to help pilot or scale their models. Participation in the Incubator is not required.
The Accelerator is a six-month wraparound support program starting in 2022 that will provide an immediate $50,000 per accepted team to deploy or scale much-needed solutions that reduce adverse law enforcement encounters across the United States.
This Challenge is looking for a wide range of solutions, such as:
- Alternatives to deploying police response to 911 calls or traffic enforcement that don’t require armed responses, whether a noise complaint, car accident, or other incident;
- Alternatives to police-enforced legal sanctions, particularly those related to mental illness or substance use disorders;
- Increased transparency, public input, and evaluation of police goals and functions within a community;
- Improved approaches to recruiting, training, evaluating, and supporting police officers in their roles;
- Better coordination between police, healthcare, and community-based organizations;
- Other alternatives or approaches that help reduce the number and risk of adverse encounters and/or that support the ability of police to focus on core threats to public safety.
- Solutions should:
- Utilize data and technology to better understand and divert unnecessary law enforcement encounters;
- Engage diverse stakeholders such as law enforcement, justice-involved individuals, and community-based organizations;
- Incorporate conflict resolution, mediation, and trauma-informed approaches
Funding Information
- Amount: $50,000
What type of solutions will be accepted?
The Stand Together Challenge considers solutions at various stages of development.
- Concept: An idea being explored for its feasibility to build a product, service, or business model based on that idea. Please note that concept solutions will not be selected; you have until the application deadline to prototype and experiment with your idea!
- Prototype: A venture or organization building and testing its product, service, or business model. If for-profit, a new company getting off the ground that has raised little or no institutional capital (less than $500,000) in pre-seed fundraising.
- Pilot: An organization deploying a tested product, service, or business model in at least one community. If for-profit, a young company that is working to gain traction and that has raised less than $2 million in institutional capital in seed funding.
- Growth: An organization with an established product, service, or business model rolled out in one or, ideally, several communities, which is poised for further growth in multiple communities or countries. If for-profit, an early-stage company that has established a track record and is seeking to raise a round of roughly $2 million to $15 million in institutional capital in a Series A or potentially B round.
- Scale: A sustainable enterprise working in several communities or countries that is looking to scale significantly, focusing on increased efficiency. If for-profit, a successful company that is scaling its operations and seeks to raise a round of more than $15 million in institutional capital.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applications will be open to teams that did not participate in the Stand Together Incubator although participating teams will be preferred.
- At least one team member is working close to full-time during the Accelerator and, ideally, the whole team has part-time commitments or less elsewhere.
- Applicants can be individual students, entrepreneurs, teams, or established start-ups. If you have a relevant solution, they hope you’ll apply! They seek a diverse mix of applicants including designers, social activists, technologists, criminal justice professionals and justice system-involved individuals. Solutions can be for-profit, nonprofit, or hybrid models.
For more information, visit https://solve.mit.edu/challenges/unbundle-policing-accelerator#challenge-subnav-offset