CJII: Strengthening Communities Through Investment

Reflecting on the past decade of work, this series of briefs take stock of CJII’s goals in key areas, dives into case studies of the real-life impact community organizations achieved, and provides a blueprint for practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and funders to shape the future of public safety partnerships. 

Through CJII funding, NYU-CUNY Prevention Research Center (PRC) conducted an outcome evaluation of the NYC Health Justice Network program. The final report findings offer preliminary evidence of NYC HJN’s ability to reduce future criminal legal system involvement among participants.

This study on the College-in-Prison Reentry Initiative (CIP), a program to expand access to college education in prison throughout New York State. This study improves on and updates existing literature by measuring recidivism and examines the impacts of education on several outcomes, including in-facility behavior and post-release income.

Drawing from a wealth of experience developing service navigation programs as well as research on data-informed, community-responsive approaches, this brief provides a guide to developing navigation programs that can help government and public institutions connect communities with care, creating safety and opportunity for all.

This brief showcases how learning communities can be used to support innovation, growth, and collaboration among organizations working toward shared outcomes. The Center for Trauma Innovation, a CJII-funded project, is used as a case study.

Through credible messengers, restorative justice, and a capacity-building incubator, WHCRRP provided direct services to those in Manhattanville and the Grant Houses and surrounding area in the West Harlem community.

Reflecting on the past decade of work, this model brief takes stock of these four CJII goals; discusses how DANY, CUNY ISLG, and other partners achieved them; and provides a blueprint for practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and funders.  

In 2019, College and Community Fellowship (CCF) received CJII funding to launch the Build-Out of Student Services (BOSS) project, which provides reentry programming based in New York City that develops education and career skills specifically among formerly incarcerated women.

CIP funded seven colleges and universities to deliver college instruction across 17 prisons in New York from Fall 2017 through Spring 2022. CUNY ISLG conducted a multiyear process evaluation of the Initiative to assess its implementation

Graham Windham’s “Graham SLAM (Support, Lead, Achieve, Model)” and The Door’s “Academy” offer New York City foster youth transitioning to adulthood personalized support through mentorship, coaching, and youth-driven services.

The study found a strong, significant, and consistent effect of college participation on reducing new convictions following release. Participation in this form of postsecondary education reduced reconviction by at least 66 percent.

The West Harlem Community Reentry and Restoration Project (WHCRRP) is an initiative funded under CJII in response to the June 2014 law enforcement intervention that led to the arrest and indictment of 103 individuals living in the Manhattanville and Grant public housing developments and surrounding areas.

Sanctuary and STEPS successfully designed and continue to implement a trauma-focused model of programming that treats diverse families as a unit and facilitates communication and collaboration between the adult and child treatment staff

Margaret's Place aims to raise awareness about experiences of trauma and violence among youth and provide direct interventions for those impacted, with particular attention to the many types of violence (e.g., home, community, and dating) experienced by young people. This report presents findings from the process evaluation of Margaret’s Place that was conducted between 2019 and 2021.

The Youth Opportunity Hub (YOH) Initiative was designed to prevent or reduce criminal legal system interactions, improve life outcomes, and provide support for youth by fostering access, collaboration, and partnership among social service providers. The final evaluation report, and its associated policy brief, offers a look at the development, implementation, and outcomes of the Initiative, as well as offers lessons learned and recommendations for other organizations seeking to implement similar programs.

The goal of the Career Readiness Training Program (CRTP) is to help New York City’s economically marginalized families overcome barriers to financial independence, such as chronic unemployment exacerbated by abuse, structural discrimination, the stigma of poverty, limited opportunities for education, and shelter system dependence. By participating in the CRTP, survivors, who are often concerned for their safety and that of their children, have an opportunity to regain financial control and get a fresh start in life.

The Medical Legal Partnership aims to positively affect the community by (a) improving functioning among families of youth at high risk for criminal legal involvement and (b) improving coordination between mental health services and legal services for youth at high risk for criminal justice involvement.

In this brief, the Urban Institute and Gallaudet University describe the methods they used to evaluate Barrier Free Living’s (BFL’s) Deaf Services (DS) program, which aims to improve direct services for domestic violence survivors who are deaf and increase local stakeholders’ awareness of deaf survivors’ needs in New York City.

Research indicates deaf people report experiencing victimization at higher rates, but a lack of accessible resources and trauma-informed services for American Sign Language (ASL) speakers makes it difficult for deaf people to report crimes and access support.

In response to these issues, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office (DANY) has provided funding to support Barrier Free Living’s (BFL’s) Deaf Services (DS) program since 2017 through its Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII).

In recent years, the number of school-based programs addressing the impact of violence and trauma in children and youth has grown. This report presents the methods, findings, and recommendations from the interim evaluation of the Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation’s Margaret’s Place program.

In recent years, domestic violence (DV) experts have called for programs with traditional models to incorporate trauma-informed approaches that better consider participants’ trauma histories, needs, and experiences. One DV service organization in New York City, the Urban Resource Institute (URI), created a program that aims to incorporate such innovative practices.

The program operates with the stated purpose of developing a network of trained community navigators to identify individuals disconnected from services and helping them locate, connect, engage, and stay involved with services they need to meet and achieve their goals.

Broadly, the evaluation aimed to document HFW’s implementation and identify its strengths, barriers to success, and best practices. The objectives for the evaluation were to document program operations, describe stakeholders’ and participants’ perspectives of the program, understand the characteristics of participants the program served, and develop recommendations for strengthening the program.

As of September 2020, the program has diverted and provided services to almost 2,000 individuals. In this report, information collected from program staff and participant interviews and surveys, programmatic data, and observations of programs describe how the program is implemented, identify key program facilitators and barriers, and illustrate participant experiences.

The two briefs in A Smart Investment for New York series document ISLG’s analysis and evaluation of the CIP Initiative. The briefs, Goals & Achievements and Lessons Learned & Recommendations for Expansion, seek to better understand implementation of CIP by documenting the CIP model over time, including: the goals the sought to address, how programs are established and how they operate in correctional facilities, the challenges programs experience and how they navigate those challenges, and the successes programs experience in achieving the aims of the Initiative.

Youth Opportunity Hubs use a trauma-informed, positive youth development framework to provide comprehensive services to young people ages 13-24. By offering opportunities and emphasizing young people’s strengths, the Hubs aim to address both risk and protective factors—including in such areas as health, educational attainment, household income, and connections to school or work—and reduce the likelihood that youth will have interactions with the criminal legal system. This report highlights mid-evaluation findings related to the ongoing process evaluation conducted by Westat and Metis Associates of the Youth Opportunity Hubs initiative.

CJII’s comprehensive approach to public safety shows how investments in community-based initiatives increase opportunities, strengthen supports, heal prior trauma and injustice, and contribute to a stronger, safer city. The 2021 annual report shows that CJII-funded programs have directly supported more than 32,000 people in New York City. In addition, these programs have engaged at least 55,000 additional people in one-time workshops and trainings.

This policy brief explores the new trauma-informed abusive partner intervention program being piloted in Manhattan, describes core program tenets of that model, and outlines early policy recommendations for working with abusive partners, serving survivors, and integrating trauma-informed care into behavioral health and social service delivery.

This latest policy brief explores how the CJII capacity building program was designed, key approaches to its successful implementation, and lessons learned to maximize grantees’ immediate and long-term impacts.