For the Media

At NYCHA’s first dog park, Bronx K-9 and human neighbors alike are making fast friends

Gothamist

The Castle Hill Houses’ new dog park is bringing residents and their canine companions together in the first-of-its-kind outdoor space on a NYCHA campus. Part of Green Space Connections, the project—which our Neighborhood Safety Initiatives team supported with the Public Housing Community Fund and the Design Trust for Public Space—brought residents together for a year-long design process. “It takes a dog park to get people together for them to talk and communicate,” said resident Jose Carrion.

New dog park opens at NYCHA’s Castle Hill campus

News12

Residents at the Castle Hill Houses in the Bronx celebrated a new dog park for their NYCHA campus with a barbeque, raffle, and ribbon-cutting ceremony. The dog park emerged from a collaborative, community-led design process with support from the Center, Castle Hill Resident Association, and the Design Trust for Public Space.

Housing Solutions Lab and the Center for Justice Innovation Launch 2025 Housing Justice Peer Network

The NYU Furman Center’s Housing Solutions Lab and the Center for Justice Innovation have selected eight communities to join the 2025 Housing Justice Peer Network—a 16-month-long program designed for housing and criminal justice agency leaders nationwide.

NYCHA’s Mitchel Houses celebrates 667 days without gun violence

News12

To mark 667 days without gun violence at NYCHA's Mitchel Houses, our Bronx Community Justice Center led a peace march through the neighborhood alongside our partners, including the New York City Public Advocate and the city’s Office for Neighborhood Safety. A longtime neighborhood resident told News12 that the Community Justice Center has made her community a safer place.

Patterson Houses soon to receive outdoor space upgrades

BronxTimes

Workers are set to break ground on two new playgrounds, an outdoor fitness center, and renovations to a community basketball court for residents of the Bronx’s Patterson Houses. The project is the result of a community-led design process with support from our Neighborhood Safety Initiatives team, the Public Housing Community Fund, and the Design Trust for Public Space.

To Finally Close Rikers, Panel Suggests Making It Someone’s Only Job

The New York Times

The jails on Rikers Island are “decrepit, dysfunctional, and violent,” says a new report issued by the Independent Rikers Commission, which our CEO Courtney Bryan serves on alongside community leaders, criminal justice experts, and people with firsthand experience of Rikers. The report outlines concrete steps for closing the jail complex, from investing in community-based treatment to creating two new leadership positions specifically dedicated to closing Rikers.

In Red Hook, justice is dispensed with joy and support

amNY

For 25 years, the Red Hook Community Justice Center has helped shrink the footprint of the justice system and create restorative solutions to local challenges for the Red Hook community. The Justice Center is home to a courthouse, but it’s also much more than that—a hub for services and support for residents in need, whether they have a court case or not. In amNY, hear from our staff and Presiding Judge Devin Robinson on how the Red Hook Community Justice Center is transforming what justice looks like in Red Hook and surrounding neighborhoods in Brooklyn.

Chicago Was a Pioneer in Violence Interruption. Cities Across the Country Are Now Evolving the Approach

WTTW News

Chicago-based organization Cure Violence laid the foundation of what we know today as “violence interruption” work, where peers use their lived experience to settle interpersonal conflicts before they result in gun violence. Our Save Our Streets team shares with WTTW Chicago how we expanded the approach in New York to address broader community needs—like education and job opportunities—while decreasing violence in neighborhoods. Learn more about the community justice solutions that have grown from Cure Violence, and hear from Rahson Johnson and Anthony Rowe of our Neighbors in Action team.

Opinion: We’ll Never Address NYC’s Mental Health Crisis Until We Stop Funneling People to Jails & Prisons

City Limits

After years of struggling with a cycle of mental health crises and criminal justice involvement, Ibrahim Ayu—a community activist, attorney, and author—graduated from our Manhattan Misdemeanor Mental Health Court program with a stable job, supportive housing, and robust mental health care. Mental health courts provide a pathway out of the justice system while addressing the underlying needs that brought people into it. In this op-ed for City Limits, Ayu shares his story and makes a case for expanding these vital programs across New York. “Far more people should be getting the genuine care and treatment that I got,” he writes.

Reanimating Community Life Through Community Justice Centers

New York Law Journal

Amid growing concerns about the decline in civic engagement, institutions and spaces that revitalize community and make room for collective problem-solving are more important than ever. A powerful example, writes Chief Judge Rowan Wilson, can be seen in community justice centers across New York, operated by the Center for Justice Innovation in partnership with the Unified Court System. In this piece for the New York Law Journal, Judge Wilson looks at the history and future of this innovative model, which brings courts and communities together to address neighborhood challenges and improve well-being for residents inside and outside the justice system.

What kind of programming would proposed Staten Island community justice center have?

Staten Island Advance

Staten Island’s first-ever community justice center is set to open on the grounds of a former courthouse, bringing an innovative model that the Center for Justice Innovation has implemented across the city to a new borough. Each community justice center reflects the unique needs of the community. The new justice center in Staten Island would provide services and positive activities for youth, people involved in the justice system, and the borough as a whole. Senior Director of Court Reform Kelly Mulligan shares details on what’s in store at the upcoming community justice center.

New Measures Launched to Reduce Delays in NYC Criminal Courts

Brooklyn Reader

Resolving criminal cases swiftly and effectively is essential for both safety and fairness. A new set of reforms that the Center helped shape, will help address chronic delays in processing felony cases across New York City’s criminal courts. Launching in Brooklyn under Judge Matthew D’Emic, the new measures will streamline the discovery process, where defense attorneys and prosecutors share evidence needed to move cases forward.

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