Reflecting on 2021 and sharing hope for the year ahead

As I return from time away for the holiday season, I’m grateful for the extended period of rest, reflection, and deeper connection with family and friends that often accompanies this time of year. This time away allowed me to reflect on our justice reform efforts in 2021 and prepare for what lies ahead in 2022. As I look back and look ahead, at the core of it all is a deep sense of gratitude and a determination to continue the work at hand. 

During the last year, the fight for racial equity in the U.S. criminal legal system was marked by both landmark decisions and disappointing news. While much has been accomplished, it is also clear to me that there is still work that needs to be done.

Throughout 2021, I held my breath each time as the verdicts in the Derek Chauvin, Kyle Rittenhouse, and Travis McMichael cases were read out in real time. Following these cases and waiting for outcomes retraumatized many communities and emphasized the reality that the dust from 2020 hadn’t settled—these moments don’t just go away; they highlight the need for continued reform in the justice system.

As I look ahead to 2022, I’m grateful to continue the work we’re doing with the Microsoft Justice Reform Initiative. To be a small part of driving change in the U.S. criminal legal system is truly humbling to me. I’m inspired by the partnerships we’ve been able to cultivate over the last year, such as the excellent work being done by the Vera Institute to help reform-minded prosecutors rethink their role in delivering justice and pursuing public safety. In addition, as part of our partnership with the Urban Institute we support local nonprofits through our Catalyst Grant program, to ensure those working locally are able to drive the most impactful change on the ground in communities. The outcomes achieved and the lessons learned from these partnerships will continue to shape our strategy for engagement going forward. Please read on to learn about the excellent work many of our partners are doing.

Reaching more communities. During 2021, in collaboration with the Urban Institute, we awarded nine locally embedded nonprofits with support of $40,000 and additional in-kind Microsoft technology and support as part of our new Justice Reform Initiative Catalyst Grant program. We will expand this program in 2022, and hope to provide funding for 30-50 organizations annually, targeting a total of 200 organizations by the end of 2025.  

The request for proposal process for the next Catalyst Grant cohort is now open and organizations will have five weeks to submit applications.  If you or someone you know is part of a locally focused 501c3 nonprofit organization working in the areas of justice system prevention, policing, or prosecution, we invite you to apply now!

Utilizing data to influence policy change. Through the Reshaping Prosecution program, the Vera Institute is helping reform-minded prosecutors rethink their role in delivering justice and pursuing public safety. Microsoft provides support to enable Vera to provide technical assistance and improved access to data as part of a targeted effort to advance racial equity in multiple district attorney’s offices throughout the U.S.

As a result of this program, local prosecutors’ offices and police chiefs in counties such as Ramsey County, which includes St. Paul, MN, announced that they will no longer prosecute arrests that are the result of minor traffic infractions, often categorized as “driving while Black.” Through this and other efforts being coordinated by Vera, we are beginning to see data being utilized to influence policy change that directly addresses racial disparities in prosecution and other areas of the justice system.

Expanding the implementation of proven models. This year we also continued to build on our partnership with the LEAD National Support Bureau. The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program is a “divert-first” approach to reduce the criminalization and repeated incarceration of people whose unlawful conduct stems from unmanaged behavioral illness. This partnership, which was established in Seattle in 2019, began when we collaborated to build out a technology platform designed to help law enforcement agencies, courts, and health care providers share data across the client populations that are being served through the program.

In 2021, we supported LEAD as they created their cohort-based approach, a model that requires 11 sites to implement the LEAD model. As a result of this cohort approach, LEAD has identified a handful of cohort member sites with the capacity to use data and technology to advance and accelerate their impact. As an example of this approach, we worked with the Atlanta Policing Alternatives and Diversion (PAD) Initiative to develop a Power BI Dashboard to visualize Atlanta Police data to help PAD staff identify the need for additional diversion efforts and training on the ground. 

Driving impact at scale. Driving impact at scale is difficult but supporting networks like the National Offices of Violence Prevention Network provides an opportunity for shared learnings and replication of promising local solutions. In 2021, Microsoft provided funding to the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform and its partners Advance Peace and Center for American Progress in their work to create the National Offices of Violence Prevention (OVP), a network of cities and local governments working to implement violence prevention programs with community-based organizations doing work on the ground.

The cohort is designed to provide best practices, evaluate multiple methods of implementation, and prepare to submit for federal funding as part of the White House Community Violence Intervention Collaborative. The network launched with 21 cities and has expanded to 32 member cities. As the cities within the cohort identify their specific needs for violence reduction, the network will help train organizations to implement violence prevention programs locally.

Looking back on the impact of the past year, I’ve learned that developing solutions that address racial disparities in the justice system requires thoughtfulness, intention and community support throughout the development process, which is critical for impactful implementation locally.

In 2022, I look forward to continuing to build out national partnerships designed to address racial disparities in the justice system while also deepening the community-based work we’ve started in Seattle, Washington and Atlanta, Georgia. I am also excited to see the outcomes from the current cohort of Catalyst Grantees and reviewing the proposals that will come in over the next several weeks.

We’ll continue to report our progress throughout the year in the upcoming Corporate Social Responsibility report and in the Racial Equity Initiative Strengthening communities report scheduled to be published in summer 2022.

Through all the ups and down of the last year, I remain grateful and humbled. I’m grateful for the people I get to work with every day. I’m humbled to be able to support a phenomenal group of organizations doing work to drive impact both national and within local communities across the U.S. I’m honored to be a small part of it all.

Happy New Year to you and yours!