We are a rapidly growing statewide coalition of allied organizations and individuals. We are young and old, of many colors and all walks of life. We are joining forces to end Mass Incarceration and create a better future for our communities and for the generations to come.
Since September 2014, we have held regular state-wide meetings each attended by 80-110 people, to strategize and form a collective vision. At one of these gatherings this winter, 85 people came together and finalized our formal vision statement:
“The Jobs Not Jails movement advances economic and racial justice by ending mass incarceration and ensuring living wage jobs for all.”
In January 2015, we took a big step toward fulfilling that vision, by working with Sen. Chang-Diaz (Boston) and Rep. Mary Keefe (Worcester) to file The Justice Reinvestment Act: An Act to Increase Neighborhood Safety and Opportunity. This omnibus bill will repeal mandatory minimum drug sentences, reduce certain low-level felonies to misdemeanors, allow compassionate release and end collateral sanctions at the RMV. The second half of the bill establishes a trust fund with the savings from these improvements – which may total over $100 million a year! These funds are earmarked for programs to end the total economic marginalization that so many of us face. These include: job training programs, transitional-job and pre-apprenticeship programs, youth jobs, social enterprises and co-ops, and evidence-based programs that help young people stay in school.
Jobs NOT Jails Ad Hoc Steering Committee:
Black & Pink
Brockton Interfaith Community (BIC)
Boston Workers’ Alliance (BWA)
Carpenters Local Union 107
Carpenters Local Union 108
Coalition for Effective Public Safety (CEPS)
Coalition for Social Justice (CSJ)
Criminal Justice Policy Coalition (CJPC)
Essex County Community Organization (ECCO)
Ex-Prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement (EPOCA)
Massachusetts Communities Action Network MCAN
Neighbor to Neighbor (N2NMA)
Pioneer Valley Project (PVP)
Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts (PLSMA)
St. Vincent de Paul Society Re-entry Project
Youth Jobs Coalition (YJC)
Participating Organizations
Action for Regional Equity
AIDS Project Worcester
American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts
American Friends Service Committee
Arise for Social Justice, Springfield
Arlington Street Church
10-Point Coalition
Black and Pink
Blackstonian.com
Boston Feminists for Liberation (BFL)
Boston Living Center
Boston Workers’ Alliance
Catholic Campaign for Human Development
Children’s League of Massachusetts
Cleghorn Neighborhood Center, Fitchburg
Coalition for Effective Public Safety
Coalition for Social Justice, Fall River and New Bedford
Coalition to Fund our Communities
Committee of Friends and Relatives of Prisoners
Committee for Public Counsel Services
Community Labor United
Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries
Criminal Justice Policy Coalition
Dismas House
Dorchester People for Peace
EPOCA (Ex-prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancment)
Families for Justice as Healing
Families Against Mandatory Minimums
First Parish Church of Arlington
First Parish Church of Northborough
Fitchburg Minority Coalition
Harvard Law Students PLAP
Jewish Voice for Peace Boston (JVP)
Lesley College – PAWS
Lynn Youth Street Outreach Advocacy (LYSOA)
Massachusetts CURE
Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery
Massachusetts Women’s Justice Network
Mothers for Justice and Equality
Multicultural Wellness Center
NAACP Youth Council, Boston Chapter
National Association of Social Workers, Massachusetts Chapter
National Lawyers’ Guild
Neighbor to Neighbor, Holyoke Chapter
Old Cambridge Baptist Church
Pioneer Valley Project
Prison Policy Initiative
Progressive Massachusetts
Prisoners’ Legal Services
Real Cost of Prisons Project
Roxbury Youth Works
St. John Missionary Baptist Church
St. Vincent de Paul Society
SPAN, Inc.
Spontaneous Celebrations – Beantown Society
Straight Ahead Ministries
Teen Empowerment
Teens Leading the Way
Theodore Parker Church Social Action Committee, West Roxbury
Timothy Baptist Church
Toastmasters Prison Volunteers
Unitarian Universalist Mass Action Network
United Church of Christ, Innocence Commission Task Force
Worcester Branch, NAACP
Worcester Homeless Action Committee
Worcester Youth Center
Youth Against Mass Incarceration
