A Campaign for Civilian Protection in the United States

The demand for Unarmed Civilian Protection is growing faster than our current capacity to deliver it. To strengthen and expand this work, Nonviolent Peaceforce is raising $1,100,000 to fully fund our United States program in 2026.

The good news? Over 90% has already been secured. Now we need your support to help close the gap of $77,000 and ensure we can:

• Expand immigration enforcement response capacity
• Scale protest and election safety training
• Deepen partnerships in high-threat regions
• Sustain trained civilian protection staff embedded in communities
• Maintain rapid-response readiness as conditions shift

Together, we can strengthen civilian protection nationwide—and ensure that even in a time of democratic strain, safety remains possible.

The United States is in a period of accelerating authoritarianism. Across the country, communities are facing expanded immigration enforcement, rising political intimidation, voter suppression, disinformation, and escalating civic unrest.

People are asking a fundamental question: How do we keep each other safe?

For more than 23 years, Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) has answered that questions globally through Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP)--the practice of civilians protecting civilians without weapons. In the United States, this looks like:

We work with immigrant-serving organizations, labor groups, LGBTQ+ centers, and grassroots coalitions to deliver practice-based safety trainings focused on immigration enforcement and civic action scenarios. Through scenario roleplay and applied exercises, organizations move from uncertainty to preparedness — replacing chaos with coordination.

As we approach high-risk election cycles and increased protest activity, NP equips organizers and coalitions with the tools to de-escalate confrontation and to protect civic participation and reduce harm in volatile environments:

• Risk assessment and scenario planning
• Safety team coordination
• De-escalation skills
• Upstander intervention tools
• Street medicine fundamentals

With support from NP staff, our partners provide direct, unarmed protective presence in high-risk settings. This presence reduces isolation, deters escalation, documents abuses, and strengthens community confidence. These locations include courthouses and immigration check-ins, community patrols responding to enforcement activity, public events where harassment or intimidation may occur, and service sites such as food pantries and legal clinics serving vulnerable populations.

Beyond trainings and deployments, we convene and connect organizations across silos—strengthening coordination between legal advocates, direct service providers, neighborhood defense groups, labor unions, faith institutions, and grassroots organizers. Tested in countries like Ukraine and Sudan, we provide resources on wellbeing and care for frontline human rights defenders, so they can sustain their work of protection and peace for the long-term. Civilian protection is not a one-time intervention. It is an ecosystem. We help build it.