The Michigan Justice Fund Begins Its Next Chapter Crain's Detroit Business
2024 Second Look Rally at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, MI
When the Michigan Justice Fund (MJF) launched at the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan in 2020, Michigan ranked 10th in the nation for the number of incarcerated people per capita. Black residents made up 14.1% of the state’s population but roughly 46% of its prison population.
The idea behind MJF was straightforward: mass incarceration was too large a problem for any single funder to move alone. Pooling resources could.
It worked. Conceived as a three-year initiative, MJF ran for six. It secured more than $30 million and made 373 grants supporting 110 organizations across Michigan — community violence intervention with Force Detroit, peer-led re-entry through A Brighter Way in Washtenaw County, housing support for returning citizens with LINC UP in Grand Rapids, and partnerships with the Center for Behavioral Health and Justice at Wayne State University, the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, and the city of Kalamazoo, among many others.
Over that period, Michigan redirected $200 million away from incarceration and reached its lowest imprisonment rate in three decades.
MJF has now transitioned to NEO Philanthropy, a national fiscal sponsor with a long history of supporting justice-centered movements. Executive Director Ashley Carter and her team moved with the fund and retain full control of program strategy and grantmaking. The move gives MJF a national platform to share what Michigan has learned — and the infrastructure to keep growing.
We’re proud of what this fund built during its time at the Community Foundation, and we’re glad to see it positioned for its next phase.
Read the full story: Crain’s Detroit Business covered the transition in depth, including what’s ahead for MJF’s 2027–29 fundraising. (Note: Crain’s content is available to subscribers.)