HUMAN JUSTICE FUND

We end mass incarceration by directly resourcing our people and our communities.

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"We will never achieve justice if the starting point
is criminal.”

- Eddie Ellis, Founder of Center for NuLeadership

Inspired by Eddie Ellis, we created the Human Justice framework in 2011.
After decades of advocating for systems reform, we shifted to direct community investment and development. In 2012 our vision became “from criminal justice to Human Justice.”

Human Rights + Human Development = Human Justice

Human Rights

We provide Human Rights such as guaranteed income, housing, healthcare, childcare, food, transportation, and all of the things every one of us needs to survive and live well.

+Human Development

We provide Human Development opportunities such as land ownership, land stewardship, pathways to home ownership, community-led education and training on history, politics, cooperative business development, and organizing and advocacy.

=Human Justice

Moving from criminal justice to Human Justice is about recognizing that continued spending of resources on systems reform (“better jails” or “better policing”) does not change community conditions. Ultimately, improving community conditions is the best way to stop incarceration and recidivism.

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Human Justice Programs

We connect Black, Indigenous, Queer and Trans New Yorkers whose lives have been devastated by incarceration to the regenerative power of nature and land.
We engage, train and hire formerly incarcerated people to design and implement community-led public safety and conflict mediation without involvement from police and prosecution.
We invest in the growth of BIPOC-owned small businesses and help them hire people from our local community. We are transforming the employer-employee relationship to emphasize co-ownership and community generational wealth.
We facilitate an inclusive, barrier-free, no-cost learning space for the community. The goal is to develop resilience, agility and leadership to reimagine and shape a more equitable world rooted in community cooperation and not rugged individualism.