CJI proudly announces the award this month of our 600th grant since launching in 2000.
Combined with a slate of recent FreeHer grants, CJI’s Strategic Opportunities Support (SOS) Rapid Response Circle added to our totals to push our awardee list over the line. It’s an important milestone for Circle for Justice Innovations, which began operations 20 years ago with very little funding and an ambitious mission.
Recent SOS grant applications resulted in a series of new Rapid Response awards, bringing CJI’s total over 600. Funded activities include recovery from the damage and special challenges stemming from Hurricane Ida, organizing around the Good Trouble Rally in Washington, D.C., Vote by Mail in Jail initiatives in Michigan, and urgent houselessness organizing in Arizona.
CJI’s SOS Rapid Response Circle remains open and ready to assist movement leaders and emerging groups to grapple with issues related to COVID-19 in jails, ICE detention centers, and prisons (e.g., conditions of confinement, compassionate release, family visitation rights). SOS grants may also be used to respond to immediate movement priorities and urgent organizing opportunities, among other approved activities. Funds are limited, so organizations are encouraged to apply early and well before the December 17, 2021 program deadline.
Your support sustains the work of CJI grantees and dedicated Circle Members, combining our strengths to uphold basic human rights and cultivate real justice by dismantling and reformulating state and federal systems of criminalization, imprisonment, and perpetual punishment.
We acknowledge you and all you do to keep this movement growing strong and moving forward. Thank you.