For the Media

Gov. Hochul adds millions for mental health treatment services

NY1

“We don’t want to see people locked up as the solution. We want them to get the help they need, get the stability, get the path toward a healthy life.” Governor Kathy Hochul visited our Midtown Community Justice Center to share exciting news of a $33 million investment into expanded mental health support for New Yorkers in the criminal legal system. On NY1, hear from the people working on the ground to link people who have been arrested to those life-changing services, including Mel Hodor from our Midtown Community Justice Center team.

New York announces $33 million for mental health services. Here’s how it will be used

CBS 2 New York

At our Midtown Community Justice Center, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced expanded investments in support for New Yorkers struggling with mental illness, including $33 million to better respond to people in the criminal legal system. The boost in funding will support more programs like ours. “I could be in jail rotting away, but I changed my life,” program graduate Ibrahim Ayu told CBS News. “I’ve really been on a trajectory of going up because of the Midtown Community Justice Center.”

2024 Spark Prize Honors Brooklyn’s Equity Champions

BKReader

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.”

Common Council to administer over $1.3 million in opioid relief, replace water mains

The Daily Orange

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.

Mental Health and Justice: The Manhattan Misdemeanor Mental Health Court

PLI PLUS

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.

A Dallas bookstore owner wanted to engage inmates in reading. A national book prize was the result

KERA News

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.”

Midtown Community Court evolves into Midtown Community Justice Center

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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.”

‘Freedom begins with a book’: incarcerated people to judge new US literary award

The Guardian

“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.”

300 Incarcerated People to Judge New US Literary Award

The Crime Report

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.

A New Literary Prize Taps a Jury Living Behind Bars

The New York Times

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.”

Car Crash Victims Seek Justice in a New Way: Talking to the Drivers

The New York Times

“We want to make real that people are more than the crash.” The New York Times profiles our Circles for Safe Streets program, which brings drivers face-to-face with the people they have harmed to do something all too rare in the criminal legal system: talk to each other. In this piece, hear from Hillary Packer—associate director of restorative practices at the Center—as well as people who have taken part in Circles for Safe Streets from both sides of a car crash.

The 2023 Nonprofit Power 100

City & State

Our Executive Director Courtney Bryan is recognized in City & State New York and NYN Media’s Nonprofit Power 100. The annual list celebrates nonprofit leaders with a strong track record of serving under-resourced communities. We are so excited to see our work represented alongside other leaders and organizations committed to building a better, more just New York for all.

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