Columbia University, Center for Justice Women Transcending

In providing a distinctive and distinguished learning environment for its students, Columbia University (Columbia) seeks to link its teaching, research, and scholarship to the metropolitan and global resources and issues of New York City. Based on the strongly held belief that universities have a large role to play in enacting social change, Columbia’s Center for Justice (Center) seeks to engage and harness the collective capacity of the university and its range of resources, including faculty and students, to impact the trajectory of criminal justice policy. The Center is committed to the leadership of people who are formerly incarcerated and works with academics, organizers, activists, and community members to create more equitable and effective approaches to justice. This award supports the Center’s Women Transcending Collective Leadership Institute’s (Institute) efforts to strengthen the leadership of formerly incarcerated and directly impacted women. Established in 2014 by two formerly incarcerated women, the Institute’s leadership development program engages a cohort of justice-impacted women with the goal of expanding their capacity to contribute to the women’s justice movement to end mass incarceration. Participants engage in capacity building and learn about effective advocacy tools including community organizing, healing practices, and participatory action research. This award aligns with grants related to leadership development as well as women and survivors impacted by the criminal justice system as part of the Safety and Justice Challenge.