Running a marathon has been a goal of mine for the past ten years, starting in undergrad when "Marathon Monday" was a school holiday and classmates and I cheered on runners in the Boston Marathon. Now, as I enter my third and final year of law school, I can't imagine a better way to fulfill this goal than by running with the Urban Justice Center (UJC). 

UJC has been an integral part of my law school experience. Since the fall of my 1L year, I have served as a volunteer with NYU Law's Solitary Confinement Project (SCP). SCP partners with UJC's Mental Health Project to interview individuals in restricted housing at Rikers and present their testimony to city officials, with the goal of ending solitary in city and state prisons and jails.

The work of the Mental Health Project is more urgent than ever given the ongoing human rights crisis at Rikers. (As of writing, twelve people have died in custody in 2022 alone.) But UJC's important work does not stop there. Their innovative, holistic advocacy model is correcting injustice faced by New York's street vendors, sex workers, domestic violence survivors, and others.

To learn more about UJC’s mission, you can read below and visit their website at https://www.urbanjustice.org. If you feel moved to donate, please do not be shy about letting me know. Your support means more than you realize and I want to thank each of you personally.

Much love,

Annie

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About UJC:

Established in 1984, the Urban Justice Center (UJC)'s mission is to provide a platform for dynamic advocates to fuel social change, leading the way for a just, fair, and decent society. Through this work, UJC strengthens families and communities in New York City and beyond. UJC's work alleviates poverty, secures income and family stability, ensures access to healthcare, ends violence, promotes safety, and builds stronger communities. UJC serves New York City's most vulnerable low-income and marginalized populations, victims of trauma and abuse, and those facing direct threats to their safety, including survivors of intimate partner and gender-based violence, homeless LGBTQ youth, victims of human trafficking, people with mental health concerns, and people of color who are disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice system. 

To learn more, please visit UJC's website at https://www.urbanjustice.org.