The After Prison Initiative (2000-2008)
Grants and FellowshipsNote: The Criminal Justice Fund is no longer accepting funding requests through The After Prison Initiative.
Please check this website in 2010 for revised grantmaking priorities and guidelines for submitting letters of inquiry to the Criminal Justice Fund. Requests for funding received before the new guidelines are issued will not be considered.
In an effort to facilitate more coordinated grantmaking and other programmatic activities, U.S. Programs merged four projects focused on criminal justice reform into a single Criminal Justice Fund.
The After Prison Initiative sought to decrease U.S. overreliance on mass incarceration and harsh punishment by advancing policies and practices that support the successful reentry of people after prison. The United States spends billions of dollars to disproportionately cycle poor people of color in and out of prison, while divesting from their neighborhoods’ infrastructure and civil society institutions. By targeting poor communities of color, the criminal justice system effectively excludes them from full participation in the political, economic, and civic life of mainstream society.
In response, The After Prison Initiative funded projects that:
- reorient the mission and resources of criminal justice and prison systems to maximize successful reentry and minimize incarceration
- strengthen civil society institutions and infrastructure in high-impact communities
- promote civic and political inclusion and re-enfranchisement
- rethink crime and punishment for the 21st century
