The current employment upheaval, or the Great Resignation, reminds us that the opportunity to pursue meaningful and fulfilling work—something more than just a job—should extend to everyone. However, people who are formerly incarcerated are a group who often can only access employment with low pay, stress, and little opportunity for advancement. They are often locked out of careers because of a lack of educational credentials, training, or other systemic barriers.

The Youth Opportunity Hubs have brought important benefits to young people and their communities, including a greater sense of safety, well-being, and opportunity. For funders and policymakers who are looking to support young people and increase cross-sector collaboration, the evaluation of the Youth Opportunity Hubs initiative points to key lessons.

Across New York City, many young people are in need of youth-centered spaces that meet their diverse needs and draw on and lift up their strengths. Unfortunately, funding constraints of the social service system often lead to siloes between organizations, making it difficult for youth to access all of the services available to them. The Youth Opportunity Hubs, opened with CJII funding in 2017, were created to address these challenges and better serve young people.

Historically, organizational silos and constraints in funding opportunities have made it harder for organizations to build on and complement each others’ strengths to holistically serve youth in their communities—organizations tended to be funded to provide particular types of services (education, employment, etc.) and compensated based on those services being successfully delivered, not based on comprehensive supports for young people. The Youth Opportunity Hub initiative was designed to address these constraints and strengthen collaboration through funded partnerships.

The annual report of the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative shows that CJII has provided transformative support for thou­sands of people in New York by making significant community-based investments to keep people out of the criminal legal system and help make New York City safer.

New evaluation findings show that Sanctuary for Families’ Career Readiness Training Program is helping intimate partner violence survivors develop professional skills and improve their sense of self by expanding the capacity of its program to create pathways to financial independence.

Through its CJII-funded Deaf Services Initiative, over the past three years Barrier Free Living has improved its support for deaf survivors of abuse by expanding service offerings, enhancing its means of communication support and technology, and engaging community partners in deaf-specific trainings and resources.

Social enterprises—nonprofits that generate revenue to support their ongoing operations—present an innovative approach to workforce development, with the potential for systems-level impact. The Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII) funded the work of three growing social enterprises: Drive Change, The HOPE Program’s Intervine, and Sweet Generation Bakery.

Rikers Island is in a state of “unprecedented crisis” brought into stark relief by the death of 12 people in Department of Correction custody this year. While the Department is working to improve conditions in the jails, its efforts are hampered by the deteriorating condition of the existing facilities. It is more important than ever before that the City of New York make good on its promise to close Rikers Island and move to a safer, more humane borough-based system.

A holistic and innovative program in Manhattan is providing families affected by gender-based violence with family-focused programing. The program addresses families’ healing and mental health needs and goals by using clinically informed assessments and evidence-based interventions.

Many families, in New York City and elsewhere, face challenges obtaining educational support for children struggling with learning and developmental disabilities and/or mental health needs. This is particularly true for families that live at or near the poverty threshold. An innovative effort by a hospital and a legal services provider in Manhattan is working to change that.

Today, we announced the second cohort of the Kriegel Fellowship for Public Service Leaders. The Kriegel Fellowship is a leadership and professional development program for chiefs of staff of city and state legislators serving the New York City area.