ALTERNATIVE FIRST RESPONDERS
NATIONAL ONLINE SYMPOSIUM

Thursday October 16 2025 | 9:30AM – 5:00PM (aest) Join us for a gathering of local and international changemakers redefining the first response beyond police. This online national symposium will showcase real-world models and bold policy solutions – exploring not only what is possible but what is already working on the ground. Join us as we examine how to build and strengthen alternative first responses and be part of the urgent call to have diversity, community and care in the first response.   

KEY NOTES SPEAKERS

Alexander Heaton

The Policing Project, NYU | Alexander spent the last three years as the Director of Reimagining Public Safety at the Policing Project at the NYU School of Law, where he launched a national campaign to divert 12 million calls annually from police to alternate responses by 2030, designed and implemented the nation’s first complete crisis response ecosystem in the City of Minneapolis, and served as a subject matter expert on non-police response for governments around the world.

Gina M. Nagano

House of Wolf, Turtle Island | Gina is a Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation Beneficiary & Citizen; she is of the Wolf Clan from Dawson and presently resides in Whitehorse, Yukon. She retired from her first career as a Sergeant after serving 21 years of loyal service with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. She has a diverse background in policing and served as operational and administrational police officer within the RCMP and within many Aboriginal Communities in Canada as a Community Safety Specialist.

Hosted by National Justice Project & Supported by Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion, UTS.

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive special offers and updates about our events.

ARTS AND POLICY COMPETITION

Starting with care – following through with courage

Across the country, we’re having important conversations about how we build alternative first responses from police, one that prioritises care, wellbeing, and community. The Alternative First Responder campaign calls on us to reimagine how we respond to people in need and to invest in solutions as diverse as our communities.  When we rethink the response and centre community and diversity, we ensure that everyone is met with safety and dignity in their time of need. Communities have the solutions, we need policy courage from government. 

We are calling on our supporters to be courageous and put forward their best visionary ideas for change. When we map out social change there are many roles in the ecosystem; storytellers, healers, disrupters, visionaries, caregivers, advocates and more. We want to hear from the chorus of supporters calling for care not force.