JusticeAid is pleased to share exciting news about our 2021 grantee partner, the NDS PACE Program (Police Accountability/Community Empowerment). PACE is a new effort from Neighborhood Defender Service (NDS), a national public defender office, that will reckon with police impunity, reduce overpolicing, and build community power and wealth.


NDS is prominently featured in The New Yorker this week: Andrew Cuomo’s Refusal to Vaccinate Inmates Is Indefensible. The article examines the moral and legal argument for offering vaccinations to incarcerated people. NDS sued New York State for its discrimination against incarcerated people in its COVID-19 vaccination rollout. “Our constitutional rights are not suspended during a crisis. Even when faced with limited resources, the state must fulfill its duty of protecting those in custody.”


THURSDAY, MARCH 25TH AT 7 PM ET
RACISM AND THE CRIMINAL SYSTEM: COMMUNITIES FIGHT FOR JUSTICE
Meet NDS PACE Executive Director, Rick Jones, and a panel of distinguished experts during a free, online public forum hosted by the Justice & Civic Engagement Initiative of ClassACT HR’73 (ClassAct is a strategic partner of JusticeAid). The upcoming program will feature:
- Journalist and author Sylvester Monroe, moderator
- Gina Clayton-Johnson, Executive Director & Founder, Essie Justice Group (JusticeAid grantee partner in 2018)
- Rick Jones, Executive Director, Neighborhood Defender Service (2021 JusticeAid grantee partner)
- Christy E. Lopez, Law Professor, co-leader of the Innovative Policing Program at Georgetown Law
- Jason Williams, District Attorney and former City Council President, New Orleans, LA
Register for the Zoom event here.

JUSTICEAID’S MATCHING GIFT CHALLENGE FOR NDS PACE STARTS NOW!
Your contributions to JusticeAid this year will help support the expansion of the NDS PACE Program (Police Accountability/Community Empowerment) that confronts the challenges pervasive in our legal system caused by structural racism. We’ll be sharing news and information throughout the year about the exciting work of NDS PACE.
Give now and double the impact of your gift. The JusticeAid Board is putting up $200K as a matching gift challenge.
JusticeAid, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity, leverages the community-building power of art and music to transform awareness into action in the fight against injustice. Each year we identify and raise funds for justice causes by hosting music, arts, and educational events. Since 2013 JusticeAid has raised over 1.1 million dollars for justice heroes: nonprofits that are ending mass incarceration, addressing the criminalization of poverty and inhumane immigration policies, and protecting civil rights for all.