Human Justice Program

Human Justice Program is sponsored by The New York Community Trust. This program aims to promote a more effective and fair civil and criminal justice system through research and monitoring of practices and procedures in city courts and advocacy to improve local court practices and procedures.

Human Justice - The New York Community Trust Learn more about how we fund human justice in New York City. To find out what else we fund, explore our Info for Nonprofits page. Grantee Women’s Community Justice Association advocates to close the women’s jail on Rikers, which has been the site of repeated human rights violations.

To promote a more effective and fair civil and criminal justice system through research and monitoring of practices and procedures in city courts and advocacy to improve local court practices and procedures.

Provide advocacy, information, and representation in emerging and/or urgent areas of civil law where other funding sources are limited, including: Helping advocates and legal service nonprofits act quickly when laws and policies change.

Supporting advocacy and individual, multi-plaintiff, or class-action litigation to protect New Yorkers’ civil rights and make law and public policy more responsive to the needs of the city’s most vulnerable residents.

Identify effective ways to help low-income New Yorkers resolve legal problems and thereby improve their quality of life by: Testing the effectiveness of different service delivery methods, such as brief advice, technology, non-lawyers, and alternative courts.

Connecting legal help with other desired outcomes, such as reducing homelessness and increasing employment and educational opportunities through program evaluation and collaboration with other social service providers. Building the capacity of legal service nonprofits, individually and as a field, to track and communicate their results. We do not make grants to provide legal representation in criminal matters.

Read the background paper that informed this grantmaking strategy here . Our program directors host regular information sessions for new applicants. Register today!

Women’s Community Justice Association to support public education and advocacy efforts to improve conditions for women in the city’s jails. Urban Youth Alliance International to engage young people in campaigns to relocate Rikers Island inmates to a facility in the Bronx and protect young people during police interrogations.

Transformative In-Prison Workgroup for community groups to deliver rehabilitative programs to people in New York’s prisons and jails. National Mobilization Against Sweatshops to advocate to abolish 24-hour workdays for home care aides.

to report on internet freedom in 70 countries to support advocacy for free speech and online privacy to reform New York state law to reduce unfounded and disruptive reports of suspected child maltreatment.

Family Justice Law Center to bring federal litigation on behalf of families harmed by the city’s child welfare practices Central American Legal Assistance to protect the rights of asylum seekers by appealing unfair and incorrect denials to create a state unemployment insurance program for undocumented workers Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees to provide case management and other services to Haitian immigrants, many of whom are women who have survived gender-based violence to help migrants represent themselves in immigration proceedings for legal representation and advocacy to reform child support proceedings in New York State to protect parents’ rights in child welfare investigations for a collaborative fund to assist immigrants and refugees in New York to empower Chinese and Caribbean New Yorkers with immigration, social, and economic information via Chinese- and Creole-language local news to strengthen the rights of parents in child welfare investigations to create a public database of wage theft violations in New York State Right to Counsel NYC Coalition to expand the right to counsel in eviction proceedings African Communities Together, Inc. to expand opportunities for African immigrants in fields with livable wages to help migrants represent themselves in immigration proceedings New York Immigration Coalition, Inc. to coordinate a statewide campaign to aid newly arrived immigrants to repurpose Rikers Island while reforming the city’s approach to incarceration for a fund to support grassroots campaigns to end police violence against Black people Catholic Charities Community Services, Archdiocese of New York to provide legal assistance to newly arrived asylum seekers Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative, Inc. to help unrepresented asylum seekers navigate immigration court Curious about what else we fund?

Are you seeking support for the following? Capital and building campaigns General operating support/routine operational expenses Unfortunately, we don’t make grants in these areas. Where will the activities you plan to request support for take place?

Only select National or International if your work falls outside of New York City, Long Island, or Westchester. Select all relevant impact areas to your nonprofit. Details on your impact areas