At Atlanta Community Support Project (ACSP), we are sourcing the struggle against poverty and mass criminalization through community-based research and resource development. As directly-impacted abolitionists, our theory of change lies in the confidence that we can interrupt the power dynamic that sustains racist oppression by ensuring our people have what they need to advocate individually and collectively, while incarcerated and after, in the courts, before administrative agencies, and through civic participation and conversations with those elected to represent us.
Among all the unique qualities we possess – activists, artists, writers, legal and policy folks, students, educators, family members, friends, neighbors – we are criminal system experts. Our work lies in dreaming out loud… of a post-othering world where disconnected lawmakers don’t make policies that harm our families… where researchers and clinicians don’t claim ‘expertise’ over our lives, scrutinize and medicalize us… where social and financial capital earmarked for our neighborhoods gets invested in infrastructures that actually advance public safety and community sustainability.
More than others, we understand our community needs and the required solutions.
ACSP holds the following community values: