Our communities deserve more! We have been told time and time again "there are no resources" for housing, schools, childcare, healthcare, parks, community centers—but we know that this is not true. Our cities’ resources are being funneled towards things like police, their settlements when they inevitably cause harm, detention centers, prisons, surveillance, and tax breaks for millionaires. Real safety comes from investment in life-affirming resources.

One of CR’s goals and strengths is to wage campaigns with an Invest/Divest framework, using a shrink and starve strategy to reduce the reach of the prison industrial complex (PIC), while we build up our resources and networks of care to make prisons and policing obsolete. In addition to the movement building work you heard about in the last year-end update, CR chapter members have been creatively resourcing our communities when we know the state will not.

Anti-prison organizing in Central Appalachia

CR's newest chapter, CR Central Appalachia (CR CAPP), is part of the Building Community Not Prisons (BCNP) coalition, which opposes the construction of an environmentally-disastrous federal prison in Letcher County, Kentucky. This year, BCNP partnered with the Appalachian Rekindling Project to purchase and rematriate a large parcel of land in the midst of the BOP’s proposed Letcher prison site. Not only is this a very exciting roadblock for the prison’s construction, but it is a win for land back and Indigenous sovereignty! The Letcher prison, as it is currently proposed, would be the most expensive federal prison in the United States. It is also slated to sit on top of an old mountain top removal site. You can read more about in CR CAPP member Judah Schept’s article in Issue #41 of The Abolitionist Newspaper, "Abolition from the Forest to the Mountain Top: Fighting for a Livable Future."

The prison would continue extracting from the land as mountain top removal mining by the US government and mining industry have prior, and create toxic environmental conditions for communities both near the prison and for the people who would be warehoused inside. The wealthy few would profit, while also benefiting from public money being drained into the punishment and caging of our community members, and siphoning off resources that should be allocated to solve our communities’ problems at their root.

BCNP and the Appalachian Rekindling Project have made major gains to repair some of the harm that has been done and prevent more from happening. This is a clear win that shows us what is possible, and that the resources do exist. It shows why we need coalitions — there is abundance, and we can achieve more when we work together!

Anti-policing work in Portland

In Spring 2025, the CR Portland chapter worked with Unite Oregon and other movement partners to successfully divert $2 million from police towards parks, which enabled more affordable childcare programs to stay open! Despite the city being in a large budget deficit, the mayor tried to give $8 million more to police, while cutting millions of dollars in funding for most of the city’s vital programming and resources. There were major cuts happening across different sectors, from the Housing Bureau to affordable childcare programs run by Parks and Recreation, to grants and initiatives that support BIPOC businesses and organizations. But the people of Portland spoke up, and hundreds testified in-person, signed petitions, and submitted written comments to the mayor and city council, demanding that their jobs and vital resources not get scrapped in favor of more violence by police.

Across many US cities, public officials are once again turning towards policing to “solve” homelessness. They blame their cities’ problems on the people who are most affected by these leaders’ dehumanizing policies, from camping bans to the recriminalization of drugs. Policing will never end homelessness, it only makes it worse. 

There are plenty of resources, yet it’s not just the wealthy elites who hoard resources — it’s also the inflated budgets of the police, military, ICE, and coercive treatment and shelter facilities. This is why CRPDX celebrates this Divest/Invest win and continues fighting for more.

CR has developed resources to grapple with the tough questions about how to determine where resources should go to address real and urgent problems in our communities — without further entrenching the PIC. Click below to access these resources.

Our work to dismantle the PIC, build power, and fight for what our communities need to thrive is an integral part of Critical Resistance's mission to abolish the PIC. Your contributions resource this mission.

Thank you for your commitment to advancing abolition.

In struggle and solidarity,

- Critical Resistance

More Announcements 

Keep CR strong over the next decades of abolitionist work! We invite you to become a monthly sustainer today and continue contributing to the long-term project of PIC abolition.

This year-end season, we are raising $100,000 across the organization for our chapters, projects, and overall movement building work. Check out our progress toward our goals - and help us reach them!

• $63,000 (in one-time gifts) and $2,500 (in monthly gifts) for the organization at-large - we've raised $15,100
• $12,000 for CR's New York City chapter - we've raised $5,000
• $10,000 for The Zachary Project
• $4,000 for CR's Oakland chapter - we've raised $3,400
• $3,600 for CR's Portland chapter - we've raised $480
• $2,500 for CR's Los Angeles chapter - we've raised $500
• $2,000 for CR's new Central Appalachia chapter - we've raised $250
• Subscriptions for The Abolitionist Newspaper.

We appreciate donations of your time, effort, and funds to sustain our organizing, this year and the next!

CR Portland, New York City, Los Angeles, and Oakland all hosted annual prisoner solidarity mailing parties this past weekend. We gathered with members, volunteers, and partners to write messages of love and solidarity to all of CR's imprisoned comrades. Thank you for contributing to such lovely events. Our imprisoned comrades will receive your well wishes soon!

An abundance of resources exist and we hope you will consider contributing to others in our movement ecosystem!

• Support Project LETS, a mad liberation organization working to combat carceral psychiatric treatment and provide anti-carceral mental health care.
• Make a gift to The Abolition School, which provides free abolitionist political education.