The Just Trust has selected Impact Justice as part of its inaugural cohort of eight “Accelerator” organizations advancing “bold approaches to community safety and accountability” geared to reduce reliance on law enforcement and the legal system.
The accompanying Community Safety Accelerator grant supports IJ’s efforts nationally to expand the use of restorative justice as an alternative to prosecution and punishment.
“Communities are looking for new, more effective approaches to public safety — models that work because they allow for genuine accountability, help people to heal, and break cycles of harm. This investment will expand our reach and capacity to support community-held restorative justice diversion,” commented Cymone Fuller who leads IJ’s restorative justice work nationally.
“We’re grateful for this investment in our own restorative justice work and thrilled that the initial cohort of eight Accelerator organizations includes not one but two organizations working to expand the use of restorative justice diversion. That signals the potential of this work,” Fuller added, referring to the NYC-based organization Common Justice.
Impact Justice has been at the vanguard of using restorative justice as an alternative to the legal system. IJ played a lead role, alongside Community Works, in developing one of the nation’s first pre-charge diversion program in Oakland, California, a program that has proven to be more effective than the legal system in preventing future harm. Since then, IJ has guided the start-up of more than 10 restorative justice diversion programs in communities across the country.
