Institute Intelligence, September 2025: Prosecutorial Data in the Great Lakes, Grassroots Investments Pay Off
By Carla Sinclair, Senior Communications Associate, and Alisa Orlowsky, Communications Associate
It’s a transitionary time. Cities, states, and public institutions across the country grapple with federal policy changes; New York City prepares to decide on a new mayoral administration; and, despite lingering summer temperatures in the forecast, the recent fall equinox marks a new season.
Our work here is passing new milestones, too, with new partnerships kicking off, partners reflecting on their accomplishments, and fresh data and analysis in the pipeline. Take a look below at what’s up and what’s brewing.
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Optimizing Government & Institutions
Launching the Great Lakes Network of the Prosecutorial Data Collaborative
Each local prosecutor’s office across the country is shaped by the unique communities they’re in and they serve. That means their responsibilities and priorities vary widely, as do the tools they have to address them. But through it all, one thing is clear: to truly work toward safety, efficiency, and fairness, prosecutors need policies and practices grounded in data and evaluation.
Doing so requires a tailored, data-driven plan. Launched in early 2025, CUNY ISLG’s Prosecutorial Data Collaborative works with prosecutors to design and implement that plan. A partnership with the Prosecutorial Performance Indicators (PPIs) team, Collaborative staff work with local prosecutor’s offices to build the infrastructure and culture necessary to effectively use data in their offices, courtrooms, and communities.
As of summer 2025, the Collaborative is now powering a regional network of Great Lakes prosecutor’s offices, who can work alongside each other and ISLG to troubleshoot, share best practices, and more.
Deputy Research Director Jennifer Ferone gives a glimpse at the work being done in Toledo, OH, Hennepin CO, MN, and Lake CO, IL on our blog.
Advancing Justice
Measuring the Progress of Jail Reduction Strategies, Now with Updated Data
Cities and counties across the country are reducing their jail populations, without impacting safety. As the data and analytics partner of the Safety and Justice Challenge, we've been tracking progress across sites to measure the impact of these innovative strategies.
Dig into the data yourself, now available through July 2025.
ICYMI: How do we know SJC reforms haven’t led to spikes in crime? Last summer, we reviewed case-level outcomes of people released from jail after SJC reforms, finding that there is no apparent correlation between changes in incarceration and violent crime. Stay tuned for an updated analysis.
In the News: ISLG Senior Fellow Jeremy Travis, along with Susan Herman and Preeti Chauhan, writes about how "learning more about victims’ needs and experiences is an essential step toward achieving justice." Read it in Vital City.
Promoting Opportunity
Investing in Communities, at the Roots: Celebrating the Inaugural Grassroots Policy Incubator Cohort
Grassroots community-based organizations often draw on their unique insights and close community relationships to identify challenges and design strategies to address them. But their often small, nimble sizes have historically made it difficult to be competitive in complex funding processes and, relatedly, build up their internal capacity to grow, measure, and showcase their impact.
The Grassroots Policy Incubator (GPI) was designed to fix that. Launched in 2024, the Incubator offered up to $40,000 to grassroots leaders or organizations to participate in a six-month incubation process, with the goal of developing an approach or recommendation that addressed a specific, identified policy gap or challenge in a NYC community.
Key to this Incubator was prioritizing grantee needs, allowing a flexible approach for organizations in developing their ideas. This also meant providing them with tailored capacity-building support to address broader needs—such as in data collection and analysis, fundraising, or communications—related to their chosen policy gap.
For six months, ISLG staff and the GPI grantees—The Flossy Organization, Survivors Justice Project, and Immigrant Children Advocates’ Relief Effort (ICARE)—met one-on-one and as a learning community to analyze their policy gaps and approaches to address them. This past week, the three organizations came together in ISLG’s offices in Midtown to reflect on the work accomplished, what they learned from the Incubator, and what lies ahead.
On our blog: Senior Communications Associate Carla Sinclair breaks down what they’ve accomplished—and how the Incubator’s unique model helped each organization’s original ideas evolve and grow.
Learn more about how the Grassroots Policy Incubator was developed in this case study.
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