Events - Alternative First Responders

Full Program Announced

We are so honoured to have advocates from across the nation joining us on October 16th for our national online symposium – Alternative First Responders: Policy, People and Practice for Building a Response Beyond Police.

In the afternoon, our speakers will be taking over the microphone to share why we need to re-think the response and choose care over force. We’ll also hear about alternatives already in action and explore what we need to keep investing in to ensure we strengthen the ecosystem for change and commit to true community safety.

Sponsored by Robinson Gill Lawyers

Supported by UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion

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AFR EVENT 2025

ALTERNATIVE FIRST RESPONDERS
NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ONLINE

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 | is a Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation Citizen of the Wolf Clan from Dawson City, Yukon, and currently resides in Whitehorse, Canada. She is the President and CEO of House of Wolf & Associates Inc. and First Peoples Coffee, and the President and Co-owner of Tr’ochëk Energy Inc. An entrepreneur at heart, Gina is deeply committed to community economic development and Indigenous self-determination.

She brings significant expertise in justice-related services, including community safety planning, restorative justice, land-based healing, and child and family welfare. Her understanding of the historical and ongoing impacts of the justice and child welfare systems on Indigenous peoples underpins her commitment to building safer, healthier communities.

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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 the first response 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.

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Join the call for care, not force.

Subscribe and pledge your support. We’re building a movement to re-think the first response – one that puts care, community, diversity and human rights at the centre.

By signing up you are adding your name to the pledge for Alternative First Responders. You’ll receive regular updates about the campaign, ways to get involved and how you can help push for alternative first responders.