Four New Members Join CJI Leadership Circle Dominique Morgan (she/her) is an award-winning artist, activist, and TEDx speaker. As the Executive Director of Black and Pink, the largest prison abolitionist organization in the United States. She works daily to dismantle the systems that perpetuate violence on LGBTQ/GNC people and individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Partnering…
In order to build on the trailblazing work CJI has carried out over its 20 years of revolutionary philanthropy, CJI is rolling out a fresh, new logo design. CJI new logo was conceived to more fully capture our grantmaking philosophy, who were are as a community, and how we function as the country’s first Black…
Open Door Philanthropy Podcast The Open Door Philanthropy Podcast gathers philanthropists, entrepreneurs, and change makers of all stripes. The podcast is hosted by Dave Moss, who founded Unfunded List in 2015 to ensure the next generation of changemakers receive the feedback and recognition they need to be successful. His Open Door Philanthropy podcast’s mission…
Today marks 57 years since Congress ratified the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, forbidding the use of a poll tax in federal elections. For 70 years—from the 1890s until this day in 1966—voting fees applied in southern states as a legal means of preventing Black Americans from exercising their hard-won right to vote. A…
The FreeHer Fund was established in 2020 in partnership between CJI and The National Council of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls. The FreeHer Circle works to support grassroots organizing that is based on awareness of the current political environment’s hostility toward the rights of women and girls. To qualify, organizations must be led…
We are all still sifting through the images of last Wednesday’s violent and deadly siege by well-armed and highly coordinated domestic terrorists of the U.S. Capitol, aided and encouraged by the soon-to-be-twice-impeached President of the United States. Among the white supremacist rioters—the world is learning—were also retired U.S. military, off-duty police, state and federal…
At CJI, we join our brothers, sisters, and loved ones behind bars to mark this anniversary of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights by condemning the daily shredding of those universal human rights inside America’s prisons. Some of the very worst human rights abuses occur inside U.S. prison walls and ICE immigration detention centers.…
The Circle for Justice Innovations (CJI) has been developing and strengthening a funding infrastructure to support grassroots organizations across the United States for 20 years. CJI and its network of grantees are doing the work necessary to bring real, systemic change to the criminal justice system. Their inclusive and collaborative approach to grant-making has allowed…
In the United States, the global leader in incarcerating people, the rate at which we imprison women has surpassed that of men. Studies tell us that as many as 86% of our incarcerated women have suffered physical or sexual abuse. These chilling statistics show a system that both disregards the role of trauma in women’s…
“Urgent” is not a strong enough word to describe our current circumstances. This summer, people most impacted by the criminal legal system face death by murder and disease, inhumane conditions of incarceration, empty wallets and empty cupboards. As we scramble to protect ourselves and one another, our government doubles down on mass incarceration, spending billions…