Circle Members

Ben Griesinger is an educator, facilitator, bridge builder, and deep listener who loves to talk. Ben’s focus on criminal justice work came in large part from seeing the disparities in how police and courts treated his Black and Latino students in comparison to his White friends who could afford lawyers. As a young adult Ben worked for Friends of Island Academy, where he helped start a school for formerly incarcerated youth and organized to stop New York City from building new youth jails. Ben has been a donor to CJI for over a decade, on the Steering committee since 2012, and is proud of CJIs work and growth. Ben has also worked as a math teacher from middle school to adult age groups. Ben is committed to young people realizing their power through multi-issue organizing, direct action, voting, and civic engagement, and works to support Student Power Networks, VOTE MOB, and the Movement Voter Project.