Ten months have passed since you heard from Equal Justice USA that we would end our active operations as an organization focused on building a justice system that heals rather than harms. I hope this note finds you well despite the turmoil and uncertainty we have consistently seen since then. The impact of the Trump administration on social justice organizations has been harsh, as we found in April 2025, when it revoked $3 million in federal funding from us. Another $800 million was pulled from partners who engaged in work designed to promote community-driven public safety.
On behalf of the EJUSA Board of Directors, I want to provide an update. We have spent these past months in the difficult work of closing the organization. Throughout the process, our focus has been two-fold: caring for our staff, and ensuring our remaining funds continue to make an impact. We are reinvesting in organizations whose work aligns with our mission and values: supporting community-driven approaches to public safety, minimizing the harm from the present criminal justice system, and opposing the death penalty.
One of our first moves was to facilitate the transition of our Restorative Justice Project to the Center for Justice Innovation. Several team members moved to CJI, accompanied by funding to ensure the program could relaunch securely.
At the conclusion of all close-out activities we will divide and distribute the balance of funds equally between two essential former allies and partners in the work we accomplished in recent years. Both are nonprofits — one continuing our long-term commitment to ending the death penalty and the other focused on violence prevention.
Reimagining Justice, located in Paterson, NJ, creates healing-centered solutions to violence in their community. The Promise of Justice Initiative, based in New Orleans, advances the dignity, freedom, and autonomy of people targeted by the criminal legal system and mass incarceration, and continues to lead the fight to oppose Louisiana’s death penalty. The Board intends, by this distribution of our remaining assets, both to help sustain these vital organizations and to keep important aspects of our 35-year legacy moving forward. We hope you, who have shared our vision, will take the time to learn about the important work of these three partners and consider lending your support to them as well.
We will continue to preserve other aspects of our legacy via resources and storytelling found on this site. Additionally, we have uploaded many of our resources to Issue Lab for long-term preservation.
On behalf of the board, I thank you for supporting EJUSA’s vision. We are honored to have been a leader for decades now in developing pathways to reducing violence and healing communities. We are committed to supporting the essence of the work through other outlets. We ask that you join us in doing the same.
Toward justice, always,
Leonard Noisette
Board Chair
