The Center for Justice Innovation—and our operating programs—are regularly featured in the media. Here is a sampling of the press coverage of our work.
In Vital City’s special issue on New York City’s jails, Chidinma Ume, Senior Director of Community Justice at the Center, joins IntegrAssure’s Erin Pilnyak to share what it was like to be part of a citywide effort to reduce unnecessary case delays that leave people languishing in jail. Their conversation sheds light on how collaboration, data, and what Ume calls “a combination of patience and urgency” can help us safely reduce jail populations and ensure all people are treated with dignity as they navigate the legal system.
Our Neighbors in Action program received Brooklyn Org’s prestigious annual Spark Prize, which recognizes five nonprofits each year working to build racial and social justice in Brooklyn. The five winners of the award were honored at this year’s Spark Breakfast at the Brooklyn Museum. “We want to make Brooklyn a beacon for the world,” said Brooklyn Org president and CEO Dr. Jocelynne Rainey. “Not just in style, but in equity and justice.”
Family members, friends, and neighbors gathered at a playground in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, to remember Troy Gill, a 13-year-old boy who was lost to gun violence on February 29. As the community stood together in mourning, they also issued a call to action to mobilize against gun violence and prioritize the safety and well-being of all young people. “We're in a time where a lot of young people don't feel seen and or loved or heard,” said Anthony Rowe, director of our Neighbors in Action program in Crown Heights. “So our path forward is to invest in the youth.”
Our Westside Community First program is among four nonprofits in Syracuse, New York, set to receive funding from the Opioid Settlement Program, which will administer relief funds towards services for people impacted by the opioid crisis. Westside Community First sends street outreach teams into areas with high rates of drug use to connect people to overdose prevention kits, health supplies, and holistic, trust-based care.
Far too many people struggling with a mental illness lack the support they need, leading to a host of challenges – from housing insecurity to unemployment – that often drive contact with the justice system. For more than 25 years, the Center has helped build court programs where people with mental health needs can find care and support. This article for the Practising Law Institute profiles the Misdemeanor Mental Health Court we help operate in Manhattan, which provides supportive responses for people with mental illness facing low-level charges.
The Inside Literary Prize began when Lori Feathers, co-owner of Interabang Books in Dallas, floated the idea to a friend at the Center for Justice Innovation after reading an article about a similar award in France. With support from the Center, Freedom Reads, and the National Book Foundation, 300 incarcerated people will read and discuss each book before leaving their mark on the national conversation by deciding on a winner. The award is a much-needed acknowledgement, Feathers notes, that “people in prisons…are part of our humanity.”
In collaboration with the Center for Justice Innovation, Freedom Reads, and the National Book Foundation, the Inside Literary Prize is the first major US book award to be decided by incarcerated people. 300 people across six states will serve on the jury for the award, announcing a winner in June 2024. The four books nominated for the prize will also be made available in each facility’s library, ensuring that more incarcerated people have a chance to participate in the national conversation and make their voices heard.
“The award tells us, hey, we can add meaning, it shows us that our word can count too.” That was John J. Lennon, one of the jurors of the Inside Literary Prize—the first major book prize in the United States to be awarded by people currently in prison, supported in part by the Center for Justice Innovation. 300 incarcerated people will choose a winner among recent books by four renowned authors: Tess Gunty, Jamil Jan Kochai, Roger Reeves, and Imani Perry. “I’m glad that the literary establishment is recognizing the people inside,” Perry commented. “They have a great deal of critical insight and wisdom about literature.”
Our very first program, the Midtown Community Court, now has a new name: the Midtown Community Justice Center. In its 30 years of innovation, the program has taken an increasingly holistic approach to justice, connecting people to a range of vital services not only within the legal system but outside of it as well. As Chief Judge Rowan Wilson said at the program’s 30th anniversary celebration, the Midtown Community Justice Center is a “lifeline for the New Yorkers it serves and for the communities from which they come.”
In a new initiative of Freedom Reads, the Center for Justice Innovation, and the National Book Foundation, a panel of people incarcerated in prisons across 6 U.S. states will collectively choose a book to receive a new award, the Inside Literary Prize, as the New York Times reports. Inspired by a similar initiative that took place in France, the award gives incarcerated people an opportunity to shape the national discourse around literature and culture. As Freedom Reads founder Reginald Dwayne Betts puts it: “Being able to say that this is the dopest book this year, chosen by these men and women still in prison, is ultimately about saying that their lives matter.”
