Press

This photo essay displays Brownsville Community Justice Center's work in placekeeping and includes personal narratives from members of the Youth Leadership Council who dreamt up the spaces that will foster healing in their community.

Sharing how her own experiences drive her housing work, Yvette Rouget—program manager at our Brownsville Community Justice Center’s Housing Resource Center—recently spoke with Pix11 News about New York’s housing crisis and how expanding rental assistance funding will be essential to help folks pay their rent. In her work towards safe, secure housing in the last decade, Yvette and her colleagues have helped prevent over 600 evictions in Brownsville, Brooklyn.

In her State of the City address, New York City Council Speaker Adrienne E. Adams spoke about prioritizing people and creating safer neighborhoods. Executive Director Courtney Bryan added a statement commending Speaker Adams for her commitment to closing Rikers. "The Center for Justice Innovation is committed to working with the City to close Rikers in the next four years through expanding the availability of community-based alternatives to incarceration, partnering with communities to prevent crime involvement, and creating a fairer, more effective justice system for all.”

The Center is proud to add three new executive staff positions: Sherene Crawford will return to the organization as Chief of Staff; she was previously with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office’s Pathways to Public Safety Division, leading alternatives-to-incarceration programs. Dan Lavoie is the Chief of External Affairs and Theron Pride is the Managing Director of National Initiatives and Research. 

Nearly half of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) households are behind on rent, to the tune of $454 million, yet there is still no policy or funding solution in sight. Federal and state government-provided funding to help tenants pay rent during the pandemic placed people in subsidized housing, including NYCHA residents, last in line. In this Gotham Gazette op-ed, Center Executive Director Courtney Bryant calls for government relief, saying "We cannot abandon NYCHA tenants or the buildings they call home. In the short-term, we must provide immediate relief to the nearly 50% of households who have fallen behind on rent."

People living in New York City public housing who have requested to transfer apartments—typically due to severe repair needs, domestic violence, or other imminent safety issues—are currently left waiting upwards of years. Yet, there has been a 640% increase in vacant public housing units within the past year, pointing to a system-wide slowdown, says Ross Joy, director of housing and civil justice at our Red Hook Community Justice Center. Decades of underfunding has caused challenges throughout NYCHA (New York City Housing Authority), including unfilled staff positions that would help maintain and turnover units between tenants.

Since its founding in 1993, our community court in Midtown has been responding to lower-level, quality-of-life offenses with a community service and treatment-oriented approach. After reduced hours because of the pandemic, Midtown Community Court will again be expanding its capacity by mid-March. The expansion comes after a number of local elected officials called for a plan to enhance the program’s capacity, citing its demonstrated effectiveness at improving public safety and connecting individuals to needed services and support.

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy of service, the Staten Island Justice Center hosted a community event centered around improving the quality of life for residents. This fun, impactful day included giveaways, activities, plenty of food, and partner organizations joining to share community enrichment resources, such as assistance with SNAP applications, legal and business services, career building support, and more.

In this opinion piece, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg shares his plan for providing voluntary services that will help New Yorkers live with dignity and make all of us safer. Bragg advocates for providing treatment, services, and a path to a better life to help folks safely manage substance and mental health struggles, sharing that arrests and incarceration alone will not address their needs. Citing Center expertise on supportive solutions, Bragg's plan is to utilize neighborhood and court-based navigators who will meet people where they are, build trust, and provide needed services. 

After over 25 years at the cutting edge of efforts to reform the justice system and cultivate safe and vibrant communities, the Center for Court Innovation has changed its name to the Center for Justice Innovation. This new name is intended to better reflect the entirety of the Center's work, which has for long been carried out not only within the court system but also well beyond it. This article from the New York Law Journal draws attention to the name change and discusses the Center's growth—both quantitative and qualitative—since its founding. As executive director Courtney Bryan told the Journal, "Our new name reflects our belief that true justice is a continuum that starts in the community long before anyone ends up in court."