Program areas at Common Justice
We operated a restorative justice-based alternative to incarceration and victim service program for young people who have committed violent crime and those they harm in brooklyn and the bronx. Case flow has continuously grown and has been supported by our staff in both our bronx and brooklyn sites. We have also welcomed our first participants to the new site in manhattan.
Alongside our work on the ground, we have continued to grow our strategic communication efforts to shift the narrative around criminal Justice, incarceration, and the violence that people survive. We have convened a number of partner organizations in small groups squarely focused on narrative strategies, where people leading campaigns and diversion projects related to violence can come together to learn from one another.
We grew support for our first policy campaign this year. The fair access to victim compensation campaign aims to make new york state's victim compensation laws and policies more equitable by expanding eligibility of victims and survivors of qualifying crimes. We passed the bill in the new york state assembly and senate.
This year, we worked with leaders standing up aligned interventions in cities where there is a crucial need and desire for solutions to violence that don't rely on mass incarceration. These include st. louis (with the freedom community center), jackson, Mississippi (with the people's advocacy institute), nashville (with the raphah institute), and minneapolis (with an emerging range of partners).
We also incurred lobbying related expenses in fy23.