Northeastern Law’s Center for Law, Equity and Race (CLEAR) and Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF) recently received a $30,000 grant from the Cummings Foundation to support CJTF’s Jail to Jobs Pipeline Project. This grant will bolster efforts by CJTF to create public, statewide, state-funded networks to increase resource accessibility for justiceinvolved individuals while also addressing the issue of labor shortages in the commonwealth. CLEAR and CJTF have also received a $10,000 grant from the Gardiner Howland Shaw Foundation to support projects that assist justice-involved individuals in the areas of reentry and recidivism. This is the third annual consecutive gift from the foundation in support of the collaboration between CLEAR and Northeastern’s Corrections and Reentry Lab. The funding will be distributed and managed by the Massachusetts Bar Foundation.

“Both of these grants recognize the critical work we are doing to ensure those involved with the justice system are given opportunities to choose new life paths. On the one hand, in Massachusetts, 75 percent of people who leave prison and jail return within five years. On the other, businesses and corporations face a labor shortage. The Jail to Jobs Pipeline Project seeks to match employers who need workers with those reentering the community who need jobs,” said Professor Emerita Deborah Ramirez, founder of CJTF and faculty co-director of CLEAR. “This year, we are particularly focused on connecting community groups and individuals with education, training and benefits available through the Community Justice Support Centers.”