- DRCPP
- ADVOCACY PLATFORM
- LEGISLATIVE & POLICY PRIORITIES
These advantages include:
1) Cultural Competency
Having professional staff at every level of the agency and Governing Board directly impacted by the legal system helps identify barriers to reentry, craft policy recommendations, and advocate for change.
2) Access to Policymakers
As a longstanding service provider, we have solid, mutually beneficial relationships with policymakers. We leverage these relationships to gain access to key players and help advance our agenda.
3) Natural Base of Constituents
Fortune maintains a natural and closely connected base of grassroots constituents. Each year, Fortune serves thousands of people with legal system involvement through various discharge planning, reentry services, and alternatives to incarceration programming.
Promoting Desistance: Transforming Community Supervision for Lasting Change
The Fortune Society and the Center for Effective Public Policy (CEPP) joined forces to create a training session focusing on fostering desistance to create safer, stronger communities. Participants will learn to distinguish desistance from recidivism, explore the limitations of current evaluation metrics, and implement innovative strategies to promote lasting rehabilitation.
Both Sides of the Bars
“Both Sides of the Bars” (BSTOB) is our thought-provoking show, aired monthly. It explores the criminal legal system from diverse perspectives, especially those directly impacted. Through meaningful discussions, we examine systemic challenges, intersections of social justice, and efforts to create a more equitable future.
Housing as a Pathway to Justice (H2J) Toolkit
The Fortune Society and Enterprise Community Partners developed the H2J Toolkit to help affordable housing providers better serve system-impacted individuals. This digital resource highlights systemic barriers, identifies opportunities for equity, and offers innovative strategies to address gaps in housing access.
Policy Center Collective
The Policy Center Collective (PCC) is a group for Fortune staff passionate about system reform to collaborate, share ideas, and lead impactful initiatives. Meeting monthly, PCC members discuss legislative updates, plan events, and brainstorm innovative solutions to advance justice reform.
DRCPP’s advocacy platform highlights priorities aimed at advancing our mission. DRCPP is a means of leveraging our internal expertise to advocate for a fairer criminal justice system, promote effective program models for people with criminal justice histories, and change counterproductive laws and policies that prevent this population from successfully reentering the community. Our priorities include:
ENDING MASS INCARCERATION:
- Promoting community-based programs as prevention of and alternatives to incarceration.
- Educating community and stakeholders about individual and community harm caused by mass incarceration through presentations, editorial pieces and public rallies.
IMPROVING CONDITIONS OF CONFINEMENT:
- Increasing access to vital services and promoting safety for incarcerated people.
- Working to close Rikers Island and change harmful correctional practices.
- Amplifying perspectives of people impacted by inhumane conditions inside jails and prisons.
PROMOTING FAIR REENTRY:
- Protecting rights to healthcare, housing, employment and education for people with criminal legal system involvement regardless of their race, gender and gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, citizenship, age or income.
- Providing expertise and technical assistance locally and nationwide to expand safe, stable and affordable housing options for people with conviction histories.
- Serving as an institutional plaintiff in litigation targeting discrimination based on justice system involvement including housing and employment policies.
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#CLOSERikers
The humanitarian crisis at Rikers Island continues. The Fortune Society therefore continues to advocate for the closure of Rikers Island, in accordance with the plan to complete and open four modern jail sites in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx in 2027.
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Protecting and Promoting Youth Justice
The Coalition to Protect Raise the Age: Build Futures, Invest in Youth
- Along with more than 220 organizations statewide, The Fortune Society is committed to preserving New York’s landmark Raise the Age law, which raised the age to 18 at which a person is automatically prosecuted for all charges as an adult in New York.
Youth Justice Innovation Fund – (A.8491/S.643)
- For the promise of Raise the Age to be fully realized, The Fortune Society is also advocating for the Youth Justice Innovation Fund, which would direct $50 million to community-based organizations to provide a continuum of services – including prevention, early intervention, and alternatives to incarceration – for young people aged 12 through 25. The Youth Justice Innovation Fund seeks to streamline the process for securing funding allocated by Raise the Age to organizations that can best steward those resources into effective programming for youth.
Youth Justice and Opportunities Act – (A.4238/S.3426)
- The Youth Justice and Opportunities Act (YJ&O) would create a new “Young Adult” status, similar to Youthful Offender status, to people under 25 who currently face the threat of permanent criminal convictions and adult prison sentences. YJ&O recognizes that young people’s development continues through their mid-twenties and therefore young people should not face lifelong collateral consequences. This effort is critical in advancing racial justice as well because the majority of young people arrested in New York are Black and Latinx.
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Supporting Successful Reentry
Reentry from the Inside Out – (A.3934/S.5061 and A.3935/S.5059)
- Reentry from the Inside Out (RIO) recognizes that reentry must start before people have been released from prison to set them up for success. The two bills that make up RIO are the Reintegration Pilot Program Act (A.3934/S.5061), which establishes a pilot program to provide access to a range of reentry services before and after release, and the Access to Public Benefits Act (A.3935/S.5059), which requires the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (NYDOCCS) to coordinate with social service agencies and nonprofits to assist with benefits applications before release. The Access to Public Benefits for Reentry Act passed the Senate in 2025, so we look forward to building upon that momentum to fully pass and implement RIO in 2026.
Transitional Reentry Health Act – (A.1008/S.614)
- The Transitional Reentry Health Act requires prisons and jails to provide Medicaid enrollment assistance to all people leaving incarceration.
Reentry Assistance Bill – (A.6990/S.6222)
- This initiative establishes a reentry fund to provide eligible individuals with a monthly stipend of $425 for up to 6 months upon release from a state correctional facility, ensuring financial support during the critical reentry period.
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#CommunitiesNotCages
Eliminate Mandatory Minimum Act – S.6471/ A.2036
- Eliminate mandatory minimum sentences, providing judges with greater discretion in making individualized determinations, with a presumption against incarceration.
Second Look Act – S.321/ A.531
- Allow people who have served half or 10 years of their sentences to apply for reconsideration and possible reduction of their terms of incarceration.
Earned Time Act – A.1128/ S.774
- Expand opportunities to earn “good time” and “merit time” credited against a prison sentence.
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Compassion and Reproductive Equity (CARE) Act - 7630A /S.7132A
Establishes a comprehensive, human rights-based statutory policy to address the needs of incarcerated pregnant and postpartum individuals and their children, ensuring their welfare and protection.
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Treatment Court Expansion Act
The Treatment Court Expansion Act (A.4869/S.4547) would expand access to judicial diversion for people with mental health issues and cognitive impairments.
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Promoting Parole Justice
Fair and Timely Parole – A.162/ S.307
- Fair and Timely Parole would provide a more meaningful parole review process for incarcerated individuals who are already parole-eligible, and it would ensure that people are evaluated for release based on who they are today, including their rehabilitation, personal transformation, and their current risk of violating the law.
- Elder Parole would provide incarcerated people aged 55 and older who have already served 15 or more years an opportunity for parole release consideration. This includes some of the statestate’sst and sickest incarcerated people.
