Community Justice Project
Miami, FL
The Community Justice Project, a movement lawyering project that was established as a part of Florida Legal Services, provides legal support and tools to a movement for racial and economic justice led by youth of color. Concentrating their efforts in South Florida, CJP co-founders Alana Greer ’11, Human Rights attorney Meena Jagannath, and attorney Charles Elsesser will support grassroots campaigns led by the Dream Defenders and Power U Center for Social Change, among others, to transform the relationships between police and communities, and envision innovative, new approaches to community safety. Alana has has also been recently awarded a 2015 Echoing Green Fellowship for her work with CJP.
CJP will use a variety of tactics including litigation, policy advocacy, and human rights forums to amplify grassroots organizing on these issues. In recent months, they have also supported the growth of a local movement lawyering infrastructure in Ferguson, Miss., as founding members of the Ferguson Legal Defense Committee, and helped lead a delegation that included Michael Brown’s parents and movement leaders from Ferguson to the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva. The Community Justice Project will continue to work with allies in Florida and beyond so that the voices of those most impacted by systemic and institutional racism are heard and their vision for a more just world becomes a reality.