Enhancing Public Safety | The AIR Opportunity Fund
Creating a robust public safety ecosystem is crucial for ensuring that all individuals feel safe and protected, and have the opportunity to thrive.
The AIR Opportunity Fund awards grants to support youth and community leadership in defining public safety; positively impact the relationship between law enforcement and communities; and build the evidence base for public safety redesign and transformation.
By addressing the harms of our current system of policing and working towards transformative change of our criminal-legal system, we can expand opportunities in education, work, and health—giving everyone a fair chance to chart their own future.
We collaborate with a variety of community and law enforcement organizations, individuals with criminal-legal system experience, local leaders, researchers, and policymakers. Our funded projects prioritize participatory research methods and provide rigorous evaluation, research-informed technical assistance, and capacity building to support public safety and harm reduction efforts.
Funding Focus Areas
Law Enforcement Harm Reduction
- Analysis, reporting, and responses to police use of force
- Evaluation of law enforcement training programs to shift policing culture
- Partnerships with and capacity building for organizations focusing on public safety redesign
Community-led Safety
- Evaluation of neighborhood accountability boards and restorative justice approaches
- Community engagement and education to interrupt cycles of violence and incarceration
- Youth participatory research projects and technical assistance efforts to co-design new systems
- Evidence-based technical assistance efforts to expand opportunities for formerly-incarcerated individuals
- Partnerships with organizations utilizing research and evidence to drive transformative progress
Project Highlights
Evaluation of Oakland and Richmond’s Neighborhood Opportunity and Accountability Board (NOAB)
This project evaluates restorative justice diversion approaches aimed at reducing inequities in the youth justice system and improving outcomes such as school performance and well-being. It focuses on the Neighborhood Opportunity and Accountability Board in Oakland and Richmond, California, which diverts youth to community-based programs at the point of arrest. The study examines program costs, implementation, and perceptions of its impact from youth, families, police, and community members.
MAAPPS: Evaluating Drug Policy Impact and Community Accountability
This grant is focused on developing holistic success measures for drug control policies, helping states align spending from opioid settlements and cannabis tax revenue. It promotes restorative justice by engaging leaders from diverse sectors, including minoritized communities, in ensuring future investments promote healthy communities.
Evaluating the Institute for American Policing Reform's Community Engagement
This project evaluates whether integrating community engagement and education into public safety efforts improves racial equity in policing. AIR provides technical assistance to the Institute for American Policing Reform to support sustainable police reform through citizen participation, while being mindful of the history and cultural diversity of communities.
Evaluating the Center for Policing Equity's Strategic Partnerships Program
This grant is evaluating whether the Center for Policing Equity's (CPE) data-driven, community-informed strategy reduces harmful policing and fosters alternative public safety structures. AIR collaborates with CPE to assess its Strategic Partnership portfolio, empowering communities to shape how public safety is defined and managed within local systems.
