The Fortune Society has announced a gift of $10 million from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott in support of its efforts to help people successfully reenter society after incarceration, promote alternatives to incarceration, and advocate for reforms that protect and help individuals impacted by the criminal legal system. 

In a typical year, the Fortune Society serves approximately 9,000 impacted New Yorkers. Through the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy, it engages in advocacy efforts at the state and local levels to protect and support justice-impacted individuals in the areas of housing, parole, incarceration, and the courts. 

“With this generous gift, MacKenzie Scott has chosen to invest in Fortune and in the inherent potential in people, regardless of their pasts,” said Fortune Society president and CEO JoAnne Page. “This grant is an important acknowledgment not only of our success in supporting justice-impacted people with crucial services and innovative housing, but also of our advocacy leadership in advancing justice and equity, especially important at this time where we are seeing pressure to roll back reforms and to return to a failed policy of mass incarceration. We are enormously grateful to MacKenzie Scott for this grant, which will further our mission to strengthen the fabric of our communities and will anchor Fortune’s services and advocacy in the coming years.”

(Photo Credit: Getty Images/MorelSO)