CJI is excited to relaunch our SOS Fund (Strategic Opportunities for Support), an emergency, rapid response fund to enable amazing organizations on the ground to move quickly and strategically to counter efforts trying to harm individuals, families, and communities affected by mass incarceration. Please note this is an ongoing open call for microgrants in the amounts of $1,500 to $5,000 to support rapid responses to movement pivots. 

This year, the Fund is focused on supporting:

• Rapid Responses to criminalization of protesting, attacks on movement infrastructure and movement responses (i.e. Rollback on Bailout repeal, Stop Cop City, Campus encampments, Movement leaders targeting) that impact an organization’s ability to carry out their criminal justice work and/or that pose a direct threat to incarcerated people
• Rapid Responses to cases of state violence (police brutality or violence from other agents of law enforcement, ICE raids, etc.)
• Community response of community-based initiatives for alternatives to policing and incarceration in response to current uprises of criminalization
• Policy advocacy opportunity to halt policies that expand the criminalization and/or incarceration of marginalized groups, as well as those that aim to limit constitutionally protected activities
• Movement pivot opportunity to promote policies that protect, restore, or expand protections for and rights of formerly incarcerated peoples, especially voting rights
• Organizing opportunity against incidents of white supremacist/fascist aggression
• Inclusion and/or participation opportunity of formerly incarcerated people and directly impacted families or underrepresented communities in movement and policy convenings
• Healing justice response to movement moment or apart community response

To be eligible for an SOS Grant, organizations must:

• Include former-incarcerated and/or directly-impacted people in their leadership;
• Contribute to building the movement to radically transform the criminal justice system;
• Be collaborative in their approach.
• Propose unanticipated actions or strategies created as real-time responses to new developments.

The use of the funds should support movement building activities or efforts, such as:

• addressing new political developments or opportunities that could advance the movement against mass criminalization/incarceration/state violence;
• building efforts to oppose the expansion of criminalization, especially the criminalization of constitutionally protected behavior, activity, association or populations;
• engaging in actions or activities that expose, oppose, or halt state actions, policies or programs that expand criminalization, incarceration, or state violence;
• advancing restorative justice principles;
• organizing movement-building activities or events that support new connections between and among different communities, such as:          
  • convenings to support directly-impacted participation
  • healing work that strengthens the movement/leadership development 

Applicants must submit the following:

1. Organization name, location, and contact info
2. Description of the involvement of directly-impacted people in the organization’s leadership
3. Description of the purpose of grant and how it is strategic
4. Project budget and Organizational budget

Please contact taliba obuya (lowercased) at talibao@cjifund.org if you have any questions or need any assistance