October 27, 2016

Gratitude for Being Invited into a New Community

| By Kim Gilhuly | In mid-September, I attended A Women’s Gathering on Criminalization and Community Health Inequities. The gathering was different in many ways, but one aspect of it really stood out: We were being invited into a community that most of us knew very little about, a community of women […]
December 10, 2015

Report-back from National Public Health and Criminal Justice Convening

| By Lili Farhang | On November 9, Human Impact Partners and the Vera Institute of Justice co-convened over 40 criminal justice advocates and public health practitioners from around the country at a groundbreaking, first of its kind convening. The event grew out of the idea that health and justice […]
December 8, 2015

Stress on the Streets (SOS): Race, Policing, Health, and Increasing Trust, not Trauma in Ohio

| By Sara Satinsky | Today, Human Impact Partners released a report that examines a critical perspective undervalued in current conversations about policing: the health perspective. Shocking cases of mistreatment, injury, and death grab headlines and go viral on social media; this report fills in the less often discussed mental, […]
September 28, 2015

Does Organizing Have a Place in Public Health?

| By Afomeia Tesfai | Many social movements in the United States have used community organizers to mobilize and strengthen collective power to liberate communities from systems of oppression. Today, the concept of “organizing” is becoming mainstream as we watch Black communities unite to address police brutality and reform the […]
July 9, 2015

A Tale of Two Policies

| By Kim Gilhuly | Last week in Massachusetts saw the release of recommendations from Gov. Charlie Baker’s task force on the epidemics of addiction to and death from opium-derived narcotics prescription drugs. The Massachusetts plan includes welcome public health solutions: 100 new beds for people addicted; increased use of […]
May 14, 2015

Helping Communities Break The Cycle And Regain Their Power

| By Ronald Day | Today’s guest blog post is by Ronald Day, Associate Vice President of the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy (DRCPP), The Fortune Society. It was originally published by fortunesociety.org.  I dropped out of high school in the 9th grade. A substantial number of teenagers in my […]
May 12, 2015

Turning on the TAP: How Returning Access to Tuition Assistance for Incarcerated People Improves the Health of New Yorkers

| By Lili Farhang | Today, Human Impact Partners, the Education from the Inside Out Coalition, and our partners are excited to release a report that examines an often-overlooked aspect of providing college education for people in prison. Turning on the TAP: How Returning Access to Tuition Assistance for Incarcerated […]
May 11, 2015

Public Health and Criminal Justice: Shared Root Causes

| By Jasmine D. Graves | Today’s guest blog is by Jasmine D. Graves MPH, Special Assistant, Office of the Commissioner, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene As the public health community focuses on the root causes of ill health and inequities, there is a growing recognition […]
May 8, 2015

College Education in Prison: Why it’s a Smart Choice for Everyone

| By Marsha Weissman | Today’s guest blog post is written by by Marsha Weissman, Executive Director of Center for Community Alternatives and Sandy Lane, Professor of Public Health and Anthropology, Syracuse University “In 1994, college education programs flourished in New York State – there were 23 colleges awarding degrees […]
May 1, 2015

Education is a human right: Opportunity to follow international law

| By Fred Patrick | Today’s guest blog post is written by Fred Patrick, Director on Center on Sentencing and Corrections, Vera Institute of Justice. International laws declare education to be an inherent human right. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economics, Social and Cultural […]
April 17, 2015

Saving New Yorkers Money by Turning on the TAP for Learning

| By Soffiyah Elijah | Today’s guest blog post is written by Soffiyah Elijah, Executive Director of the Correctional Association of New York.  Currently, there is a ban in New York State on incarcerated people receiving financial assistance from the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) to pursue higher education while in […]
February 25, 2015

The Misuse of Jails

| By Logan Harris | Most efforts to reform the criminal justice system have focused on state and federal prisons. But a recent report by the Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration’s Front Door, examines a level of the justice system just as much in need of reform: Jails. Unlike prisons, jails are […]