Cook County Justice Advisory Council

Cook County, Illinois (Cook) is a member of the second cohort of jurisdictions selected to participate in the Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC) Network, the centerpiece of the Foundation’s strategy to address overincarceration by reducing jail misuse and overuse and racial and ethnic disparities. Under previous awards, Cook developed, refined, and implemented a series of policy, practice, and system alignment changes aimed at reducing local incarceration and racial and ethnic disparities in jail usage. This final capstone award enables Cook to continue its participation in the SJC network, building on the progress achieved during previous rounds of funding, both in reducing jail populations and increasing fairness, while sustaining momentum for local system reform.

NEO Philanthropy manages large-scale, collaborative grantmaking funds and provides fiscal sponsorship and project management to initiatives that address social issues. It will use this grant to support the final year of a five-year public policy campaign to bring about significant juvenile justice systems reform in states across the country. Public Interest Projects administers and manages the funding collaborative that supports the national campaign.

The Office of the President of the Cook County Board will use the grant for a project to reduce unnecessary pretrial incarceration at the Cook County Department of Corrections: Public Defenders will have additional resources to gather and present information about defendant’s ties to the community, employment, and financial resources, with the goal that arrested people who do not pose a risk to public safety will not be held in jail; and those who need services, such as mental health and substance abuse treatment, will receive those services in the community, reducing the jail population and saving taxpayer dollars.