The Justice and Mobility Fund

The Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) advocates for a more inclusive economic recovery and works to break the cycle of reincarceration by helping individuals returning from prison successfully transition back into their communities. By providing immediate paid employment, skills training, and wraparound vocational supports, CEO helps justice impacted individuals with short- and long-term employment needs in order to build a foundation for success. Additionally, CEO seeks to break barriers to employment by working with employers to promote inclusive hiring. The Justice and Mobility Fund also supported CEO’s Returning Citizens Stimulus which delivered a three-month stipend to 10,000+ people returning home from incarceration following releases due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Jobs for the Future is a national nonprofit organization that drives change in the American workforce and education systems so that people of all backgrounds can achieve economic advancement. In order to expand opportunities for those impacted by the criminal justice system, JFF is launching the Center for Justice and Economic Advancement (CJEA). The center will serve as a hub for employers to identify the critical levers that can strengthen inclusive hiring practices and unlock demand for hiring justice-impacted people. CJEA will mobilize employers to break down barriers to reentry and economic advancement for people with criminal records, as well as advocate for policy change and scale promising models of education, training, and reentry assistance while supporting capacity-building for these models. Additionally, CJEA will conduct research and advocacy to increase the field’s understanding of this complex challenge.

Center for Policing Equity (CPE) re-envisions new models of public safety and targeted services addressing violence that enable communities to thrive, as well as promotes data-driven approaches that reduce racial disparities in law enforcement that disproportionately affects Black and Brown Americans and limits their economic mobility. A research and action organization, CPE uses data-driven approaches to social justice and science to create levers for social, economic, cultural and policy change. By right-sizing and right-purposing policing, CPE seeks to build public safety systems that are just, equitable, and non-racist. Additionally, CPE empowers vulnerable communities to engage with and shape their public safety systems, thereby promoting economic mobility and helping to maintain trust between communities and public safety systems. The Justice and Mobility Fund’s investment in CPE will support their strategic vision for reforming policing and improving community safety.

The Roberts Enterprise Development Fund (REDF) invests in businesses that reveal and reinforce the talent of people breaking through barriers to employment. To date, REDF has provided capital, capacity, and community to over 200 employment social enterprises across 33 states and DC. Together, these businesses have generated over $1.3 billion in revenue reinvested in their employees and employed over 84,000 people. Over the next three years, REDF will support capacity building for 20 leaders who share the lived experiences of the people they employ, helping them strengthen and grow their businesses, employ more people who have been justice-system impacted, and create the conditions for these striving men and women to attain economic mobility, and thrive. REDF will also work to shift the narrative around who effective social enterprise leaders are in order to encourage greater access to capital.

The Oklahoma Justice Fund aims to significantly shift the criminal justice landscape in Oklahoma – one of the most incarcerated states in the nation – by scaling the reform infrastructure in the state and creating the platform necessary to unlock transformative change. The Fund is implementing a strategic plan focused on increasing economic opportunity for justice-impacted Oklahomans through innovations in policy, programs, and practices and transforming justice systems through community power-building and narrative change.

REFORM Alliance aims to transform probation and parole by changing laws, systems, and culture to create real pathways to employment and wellbeing after incarceration. REFORM’s communications platform has a strong track record of activating cultural influencers to to use their voice to spur change. REFORM is leading the design of a narrative campaign to encourage employers adopt Fair Chance Hiring practices and amplify the benefits of hiring people impacted by incarceration.

Major social issues of our time – such as criminal justice reform – are heavily influenced by coverage in mass media, including film. One Community’s Represent Justice campaign is working to shift culture and public opinion of incarcerated individuals and increase awareness and engagement around racial bias and criminal justice reform. Capitalizing on the film Just Mercy, the Represent Justice campaign seeks to reach people across the political spectrum and in a variety of settings, including schools, churches, and prisons, to create public demand for a fair legal system, dignity for system-impacted communities, and an end to extreme sentencing and mass incarceration.

With a national affiliate network in 19 states, OIC of America (OICA) delivers workforce development programs to people left out of opportunities, with a particular focus on providing pathways to the middle class for Black communities. Their high-quality skill development opportunities enable economically disadvantaged and unemployed people of all races and backgrounds to become productive, more fulfilled members of society. OICA’s action plan focuses on making their highest quality training opportunities accessible to more justice-impacted people across their network and re-envisioning their central office to offer complementary capabilities to their local affiliate offices.

Rubicon Programs equips and empowers participants to develop the economic mobility to move out of poverty. Rubicon’s service areas include building financial literacy; finding immediate employment while working toward long-term career goals; resourcing participants to manage their health; and connecting participants to peer networks of support. Rubicon’s action plan will enable them to leverage their strong track record in California’s East Bay to offer a comprehensive view of how public systems can better serve justice-impacted individuals by creating economic mobility as well as position Rubicon as an essential thought-leader on system transformation and amplify their voice.

A New Way of Life Reentry Project’s (ANWOL) mission is to empower communities by helping justice-impacted women heal, excel, and lead, while disrupting systems of oppression and harm by developing and providing holistic, culturally competent, individualized reentry resources for justice-impacted individuals. These services include housing, case management, pro bono legal services, advocacy, and leadership development for people – primarily women – rebuilding their lives after incarceration. ANWOL’s action plan will build their capacity to codify and deploy its model through a network of national replication sites.