Key Lessons and Insights from the Ford Foundation’s Strategy to End Mass Incarceration
Recognizing the disproportionate and brutal impact of the criminal justice system on poor, Black, and Latinx communities, the Ford Foundation has been working toward decarceration, with a heavy emphasis on adult sentencing reform. Since 2016, the Foundation’s strategy to end mass incarceration has sought to identify new models of justice reinvestment, support sentencing reform policies and practices, and increase government investments in crime prevention and public health programs in communities most impacted by mass incarceration.
In 2020, Engage R+D partnered with the Ford Foundation to conduct a retrospective assessment of progress made on the Foundation’s efforts to end mass incarceration, generate insights about how change happens, and identify questions and considerations for Ford as it updates its strategy moving forward. The evaluation surfaced a number of insights for funders and other stakeholders about how to navigate across differences when advancing change strategies.
