LIVE FREE PHILLY

Leadership:
Gayle Lacks, Phd, Co-Chair
Michael Clemmons, Co-Chair
Staff:
Elder Melanie DeBouse, Co-Director
Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler, Phd, Co-Director
Contact Us: Contact@LiveFreePhilly.org

Live Free Philly began as a social justice campaign of POWER Interfaith in the wake of the traumatic killings of Mike Brown in Ferguson and later Brandon Tate Brown in Philadelphia. It took on the name Live Free as an affiliate of the national movement Live Free USA created by Rev. Michael McBride. In 2025, the members of Live Free Philly voted to become a standalone movement apart from POWER Interfaith. While many of the members of Live Free Philly are also members of POWER Interfaith, the groups are independent of one another.
The work of Live Free nationally and in Philadelphia centers on ending mass incarceration, stopping gun violence, and working for greater police accountability. The largest win of Live Free Philly to date was the passage of the legislation that created the Citizens Police Oversight Commission (CPOC) in 2020. Live Free Philly continues to work with CPOC and city lawmakers to ensure that CPOC is successful in providing citizen based, independent oversight of law enforcement. Live Free Philly believes that this makes for greater public safety.

LIVE FREE PHILLY

Email: Contact@LiveFreePhilly.org

Our Mission

Team