Center for Justice Innovation

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Center for Justice Innovation Building community justice in partnership with communities, courts, and the people most impacted.

Connecting for change with United Justice Coalition 📣Our Neighbors in Action (Neighbors in Action) and Neighborhood Safe...
10/22/2026

Connecting for change with United Justice Coalition 📣

Our Neighbors in Action (Neighbors in Action) and Neighborhood Safety Initiatives (Residents First) teams were proud to spend last Saturday at the 2026 United Justice Coalition Summit, connecting with hundreds of experts, community members, and leaders including Deputy Mayor for Community Safety Renita Francois (Deputy Mayor Renita Francois) to advance justice through deep conversation and collaboration.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by to say hi to the team and learn more about Center for Justice Innovation 💫

Leading the Center’s national work to address intimate partner violence (IPV), Rebecca Thomforde has spent much of her c...
10/21/2026

Leading the Center’s national work to address intimate partner violence (IPV), Rebecca Thomforde has spent much of her career creating multiple pathways to safety and justice. ☝️

Both locally in New York City and across the United States, that looks like centering survivors, ensuring trauma-informed court responses to IPV, supporting those who cause harm to take accountability, and breaking intergenerational cycles of trauma.

For Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we spoke with Rebecca about how Community Justice Solutions addresses intimate partner violence.

🔗 Read the interview at the link in our bio.

10/20/2026

What moment across thirty years of Center for Justice Innovation sticks with James Brodick, longtime community justice champion at the Center for Justice Innovation?

One that took place at Red Hook Community Justice Center where he got everyone trying to solve the same problem—making New York City safer—in the same room. ☝️

🔗 Watch community safety leaders James Brodick and Rasmia Kirmani discuss three decades of community justice, what trust between communities and systems can look like, and what’s in store for the future at the link in our bio. 🚀

The upcoming transformation of holding cells at the Midtown Community Justice Center with New York State Courts and soft...
10/15/2026

The upcoming transformation of holding cells at the Midtown Community Justice Center with New York State Courts and soft-firm is the latest stage of a longer evolution of community justice, our CEO Courtney Bryan writes.

Having led the Community Justice Center from 2008 to 2013, Courtney maps how the local court’s transformation from traditional to holistic responses for those charged with misdemeanors represents a broader shift in New York City’s justice landscape.

Read the full reflection at the link in our bio. 🔗

10/14/2026

Accountability heals communities. 💜

To kick off Domestic Violence Awareness Month, our RISE Project team hosted community members, partners, and survivors at Restoration Plaza in Bed-Stuy to stand united against domestic and intimate partner violence.

Thank you to NYC Mayor's Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence, Office of Neighborhood Safety, Neighbors in Action, SOSSouthBronx, Release The Grip, KAVI | Kings Against Violence Initiative, and the many organizations and advocates working every day to support survivors and build safer communities.

The movement continues long after this event. Learn more about RISE Project and the work happening across NYC at the link in our bio. 🔗

Building safer communities and addressing intimate partner violence means creating “meaningful opportunities for those w...
10/08/2026

Building safer communities and addressing intimate partner violence means creating “meaningful opportunities for those who cause harm to examine their behavior, understand its impact, and make safer choices,” writes Gene A. Johnson, associate director of our Supervised Release Program this Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

After seven years and 26,000 classes, a program he leads for participants of the Supervised Release Program is changing its name and workshop curriculum to better reflect its goal of building awareness of how harm occurs in relationships.

During Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we’re reflecting on what we learned and how it shaped this change

🔗 Learn more about the change at the link in our bio.

“Community safety and justice go hand in hand,” Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani says, and that’s why we’re so pleased to long...
10/07/2026

“Community safety and justice go hand in hand,” Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani says, and that’s why we’re so pleased to longtime community justice leader Chris Watler appointed as the new Chair of the Board of Correction, the independent body responsible for overseeing New York City’s jail system, including Rikers island.

Before serving as executive vice president at the Center for Employment Opportunities (Center for Employment Opportunities), Chris was a central part of building sustainable community justice initiatives at the Center for Justice Innovation, including as project director at our Harlem Community Justice Center (Harlem Community Justice Center), and helping to launch both the Red Hook Community Justice Center (Red Hook Community Justice Center) and what is now Neighbors in Action (Neighbors in Action, formerly known as the Crown Heights Community Mediation Center).

Chris’ unwavering commitment to communities, to justice, and to New York City puts him in a unique position to improve conditions for those incarcerated in the city, support the people responsible for their care, and finally close Rikers.

Scroll ➡️ above to see Chris at the renaming of Neighbors in Action, at a Crown Heights event in 2000, and as the project director at Harlem Community Justice Center. Each moment demonstrates his approach to justice — leading with the community, with kindness, and with the future in mind. ⚖️

No more silence, no more violence. 💜This Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we’re rising up with our community.Our RISE ...
10/05/2026

No more silence, no more violence. 💜

This Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we’re rising up with our community.

Our RISE Project team kicked off the month dedicated to fighting domestic and intimate partner violence by supporting survivors with a community event at Restoration Plaza in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.

This work is only possible when done in partnership with partners including NYC Mayor's Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence, Office of Neighborhood Safety, Neighbors in Action, SOSSouthBronx, Release The Grip, and so many more.

Learn more about the work our RISE Project does across NYC at the link in our bio. 🔗

10/01/2026

What does thirty years of justice look like? ☝️

The Center for Justice Innovation has a history of firsts. The first community court in the nation. The first drug court. The first domestic violence court. The first violence interruption program in New York City. The first felony alternative-to-incarceration court.

All of these firsts were established with the same goal in mind: To reduce incarceration and help people access fundamental needs, from housing and job training, to mental health support and education.

Many of these trailblazing solutions have been replicated across the country, supported by the research and expert assistance from our teams, weaving progress into the fabric of the justice system to support safe, resilient communities.

In honor of the Center for Justice Innovation’s 30th anniversary, you can explore key milestones and highlights of our remarkable history at the new timeline in our bio. 🔗

09/29/2026

“It allows you to see that you can be more, you can do more.”

The 2026 Inside Literary Prize asked nearly 200 incarcerated people across the country to judge five National Book Foundation finalists and decide which book the world needs to read most.

Hear from those judges about what the Prize and the judging process was like for them.☝️

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