The People's Response Act establishes a new federal division and grant programs to fund community-led, evidence-based approaches that reduce contact with the criminal justice system and promote public safety, especially for historically marginalized communities.
Summer Lee
Representative
PA-12
The People’s Response Act establishes a new Division on Community Safety within HHS to research and fund evidence-based, non-punitive methods for improving public safety. The law creates several grant programs to directly support community-led organizations, local governments, and states in implementing these "qualified approaches." These efforts prioritize reducing contact with the criminal justice system and providing comprehensive support to historically marginalized communities. The Act also mandates the creation of advisory bodies to ensure the work centers the needs and experiences of those most impacted by systemic harm.
New Federal Division on Community Safety Gets $13.5 Billion to Fund Unarmed First Responders and Community-Led Safety Programs
The newly proposed People’s Response Act is essentially a massive federal pivot on public safety, shifting billions of dollars and significant authority away from traditional law enforcement models and into public health and community-led solutions. This legislation establishes a brand-new Division on Community Safety within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), led by an Assistant Secretary. This new office is tasked with overseeing and funding what the bill calls 'qualified approaches to community safety'—meaning evidence-based, non-punitive methods that prevent violence and offer alternatives to arrests, courts, and involuntary treatment.
The New Public Safety HQ: Moving from DOJ to HHS
Think of the new Division on Community Safety (SEC. 101) as the federal government’s new command center for non-carceral safety. Placing this Division within HHS, rather than the Department of Justice (DOJ), signals a major policy shift: crime prevention is now being treated as a public health issue. The Division will coordinate research, provide technical support to local governments, and manage four massive grant programs totaling $13.5 billion authorized between 2026 and 2030. This includes managing citizen complaints if a funded program isn't meeting community safety standards, giving the public a direct line to accountability.
To ensure this shift is equitable, the Act sets up a National Advisory Committee (SEC. 102) that must include people who have personal experience with the criminal legal system—folks who have been incarcerated, arrested, or harmed by police violence. Their job is to review the Division’s work annually and make sure the money is actually reaching organizations led by and serving communities historically hit hardest by the system, including Black, Latinex, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ individuals. This is the bill’s check against bureaucratic oversight.
Where the $13.5 Billion Actually Goes
The funding is split across four major grant programs (Title II), each targeting a different level of government or organization, but all with the same core purpose: funding non-punitive safety solutions. For instance, Community Safety Grants for Community-Led Organizations (SEC. 201) authorizes $4 billion specifically for grassroots nonprofits. This money can be used for everything from hiring unarmed crisis response teams and running violence interruption programs to funding community land trusts and providing supportive housing for survivors of trauma. Priority goes to groups led by or employing people with prior experience in the criminal legal system.
Local governments can apply for their own $3.5 billion pot (SEC. 202), but there’s a catch: they must commit to creating a Safety Needs Assessment based on community input and using participatory budgeting to decide how some of the money is spent. This means if your city wants federal cash, they can’t just guess what the neighborhood needs; they have to ask, and they have to involve residents in the spending process. A crucial rule here is that any worker hired using this grant money must be paid at least $17 per hour, or the local prevailing wage, whichever is higher.
Hiring New Kinds of First Responders
Another $2.5 billion is authorized for First Responder Hiring Grants (SEC. 204). This isn't about funding more police officers; it's about funding the new kind of first responder—the community health worker, the mental health professional, the violence interrupter. The money can be used to recruit and train these workers, fund school partnerships focused on trauma-informed care and mental health services, and pay for equipment to boost availability. Like the local government grant, anyone hired must meet that minimum $17/hour pay floor.
The Rural Mandate and The Federal Audit
To prevent this massive investment from only benefiting urban centers, the Act includes a significant mandate: at least 30% of the total grant money across three of the four major grant programs must go to rural areas (SEC. 201, 203, 204). For a small town struggling with limited resources and high rates of substance use or poverty, this provides a dedicated funding stream to hire community health workers or set up violence prevention programs tailored to their specific needs.
Finally, the bill creates an Interagency Task Force (SEC. 103) led by HHS, bringing together the heads of DOJ, HUD, Education, and EPA. Their first job? Audit every dollar DOJ and other agencies currently spend on law enforcement, jails, and carceral approaches, and compare it to what’s being spent on qualified community safety programs. This audit, which must be reported to Congress within 90 days of completion, is designed to simplify the funding process for small, grassroots organizations and ensure federal money is actually supporting the goals of this new Act.