The Fortune Society Commends New York City Council and Mayor’s Office on FY 2027 Budget Investments

New York, NY—The Fortune Society issued the following statement in response to the adoption of New York City’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget:

“The Fortune Society is grateful for Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his administration, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, Finance Committee Chair Linda Lee, and the members of the City Council, for advancing a Fiscal Year 2027 budget that recognizes the importance of investing in communities, strengthening essential services, and supporting New Yorkers who too often face barriers to stability, opportunity, and justice.

We appreciate the City’s continued commitment to Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI), reentry services, and other community-based supports that help ensure incarceration is not the default response when people need services, treatment, housing, and pathways to stability. ATI and reentry programs are humane and effective tools that promote public safety by addressing the underlying needs that can bring people into contact with the criminal justice system. For Fortune and other organizations working in the criminal legal system, these investments are essential to meeting people where they are and helping them build stable and productive lives in their communities.

We also recognize and appreciate the budget’s important, baselined investments in community-based mental health supports, including $4.5 million for Assertive Community Treatment expansion and $11 million for Intensive Mobile Treatment. These services are critical for people with serious mental health needs, including many who are justice-involved or at risk of homelessness; and they connect individuals to care before crises deepen or result in unnecessary incarceration. Unfortunately, however, these funding increases will not eliminate existing waitlists for these critical services, as the need continues to outpace this level of funding. We urge the Administration to consider an increase in the investment in these services to fully meet the demonstrated need. It is an investment that improves lives while reducing costs across other public systems.

The $11 million investment in NYCBenefits is a critical investment which helps New Yorkers access the public benefits and supports that prevent hardship, promote stability, and strengthen successful reentry. In next year’s budget, we hope to see this important program baselined to ensure its long-term sustainability.

Additionally, as co-leaders of the Fair Chance for Housing Coalition, we are grateful that funding for the City Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) was preserved in the adopted budget. Strengthening CCHR is essential to ensuring that New Yorkers are protected from discrimination in housing, employment, and other areas that are fundamental to successful reentry. For people with criminal legal system involvement, meaningful civil rights enforcement can be the difference between continued exclusion and a fair chance to secure housing, employment, and dignity.

At a time of growing need across our city, these investments reflect an understanding that true community safety and well-being are strengthened when people have access to the supports they need to thrive. We look forward to continuing to work with the Mayor’s Office, the City Council, and our partners across the nonprofit and criminal justice sectors to build a safer, fairer, and more humane New York City.”

About The Fortune Society

Founded in 1967, The Fortune Society has advocated on criminal justice issues for more than five decades and is nationally recognized for developing model programs that help people with criminal justice histories become assets to their communities. Fortune offers a holistic and integrated “one-stop-shopping” model of service provision, including discharge planning, licensed outpatient substance use 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.