The Fortune Society Awarded $200,000 Unrestricted Tow Foundation Grant

The Fortune Society, one of the nation’s most respected nonprofit organizations serving and advocating for formerly incarcerated individuals, announced today that it has received a $200,000 unrestricted grant that it will use to strengthen its advocacy and policy work in criminal justice reform, housing equality for formerly incarcerated people and efforts to end mass incarceration. The Fortune Society is based in West Harlem.

The two-year grant unrestricted grant from the Tow Foundation will be allocated by The Fortune Society to benefit the work of the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy (DRCPP), Fortune’s advocacy and policy arm. Founded in 2007, the DRCPP is named in honor of David Rothenberg, a tireless advocate for the rights and fair treatment of people with criminal records, who founded The Fortune Society 50 years ago.

JoAnne Page, President and CEO of The Fortune Society, said, “For half a century, The Fortune Society has advocated for and provided a continuum of life-saving services to justice-involved individuals. Scaling back decades of harmful criminal justice policies is a complex process. But, the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy is making headway in significant areas including housing discrimination, correctional reform, removing barriers during reentry, and building public awareness about the need for increased alternatives to incarceration and a fairer rehabilitative justice system. Thanks to the generosity of The Tow Foundation, our work in these areas will continue to grow stronger and more potent.”

Emily Tow Jackson, Executive Director and President of The Tow Foundation, said, "The Tow Foundation is excited to partner more closely with The Fortune Society. Fortune is an innovative, strategic player in the space of criminal justice reform. Their work directly transforms the lives of formerly incarcerated people and leadership in advocacy efforts significantly expands that impact.”

Among the many initiatives that will be benefit from The Tow Foundation grant are:

• Fortune’s Civil Rights Housing Discrimination Lawsuit: The grant will be used by Fortune to support its precedent-setting civil rights lawsuit against Sandcastle Towers Housing Development Fund Corp., Sarasota Gold LLC, and Weissman Reality Group LLC in Far Rockaway, New York for its blanket ban on renting apartments to people with criminal records. The lawsuit, led by the civil rights firm of Relman, Dane and Colfax PLLC, alleges that the blanket ban is a civil rights violation under the Fair Housing Act because such bans disproportionately and overwhelmingly impact African-Americans and Hispanics.
• Fortune’s Supportive Housing Initiative in Syracuse: Fortune’s partnership with the Syracuse Housing Authority and the Center for Community Alternatives to bring a supportive housing initiative to Syracuse, New York will receive additional support thanks to the grant, allowing for enhanced technical assistance services. Modeled after Fortune’s award-winning housing program in West Harlem, known as The Castle, the initiative will provide supportive housing and other essential services to help formerly incarcerated homeless individuals successfully reenter their communities.
• Advocacy efforts: The Tow Foundation grant will allow Fortune to provide internships to a group of young adults participating in the alternatives to incarceration (ATI) program. They will be part of Fortune’s “Advocacy Team” and become visible leaders in the movement towards developing and implementing policy initiatives that can instill meaningful and lasting change for the communities that are impacted most by incarceration.
• Educational initiatives: Using support from The Tow Foundation, Fortune will have increased capacity to conduct a series of webinars and “Know Your Rights” workshops on housing, employment, education, and/or voting rights for people with criminal justice histories and utilize these webinars to conduct community education on a wide scale.
• Empowering Young People: The grant will allow Fortune to initiate and host a youth-driven conference with the goal of helping justice involved young adults elevate their voice and become active participants in shaping programs and policies that impact their lives.

Fortune’s founder, David Rothenberg added, “As we celebrate our 50th anniversary, Fortune serves more than 6,500 clients a year – saving one life at a time. This humbling, yet extraordinary achievement would not be possible without the generosity and support from people like the Tow family and organizations like The Tow Foundation. We are deeply indebted to them.”

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ABOUT THE FORTUNE SOCIETY: Founded is 1967, The Fortune Society has advocated on criminal justice issues for five decades and is nationally recognized for developing model programs that help people with criminal justice histories to be assets to their communities. Fortune offers a holistic and integrated “one-stop-shopping” model of service provision. Among the services offered are discharge planning, licensed outpatient substance abuse and mental health treatment, alternatives to incarceration, HIV/AIDS services, career development and job retention, education, family services, drop in services and supportive housing as well as lifetime access to aftercare. For more information, visit www.fortunesociety.org.

ABOUT THE TOW FOUNDATION: The Tow Foundation, established in 1988 by Leonard and Claire Tow, funds projects that offer transformative experiences to individuals and create collaborative ventures in fields where they see opportunities for breakthroughs, reform, and benefits for underserved populations. Investments focus on the support of innovative programs and system reform in the areas of juvenile and criminal justice, groundbreaking medical research, higher education, and cultural institutions. For more information, visit www.towfoundation.org.