Over the past four years, locally embedded community organizations have participated in the Catalyst Grant Program, a collaboration between the Urban Institute and the Microsoft Justice Reform Initiative, to carry out projects using data and technology to advance racial equity in the front end of the criminal legal system. 

Join the Urban Institute for a virtual event to hear from two past grantees from the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice and the DC Fiscal Policy Institute about their Catalyst-funded work that collected and analyzed criminal legal system fines and fees data. The grantees will also talk about how they shared their findings with community members and policymakers. Criminal legal system fines and fees disproportionally harm people of color and can lead to lasting harms for the people and communities they affect. Alabama Appleseed and the DC Fiscal Policy Institute used data, technology, qualitative research, and community engagement to shed light on this issue. 
 

Speakers 

• Aravind Boddupalli, Research Associate, Urban Institute
• Michael Johnson, Senior Policy Analyst, DC Fiscal Policy Institute
• Peter Jones, Associate Professor, The University of Alabama at Birmingham 
• Leah Nelson, Research Director, Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice
• Susan Nembhard, Senior Research Associate, Urban Institute
• Marie Pryor, Senior Program Manager of Innovation and Community Justice Reform Initiatives, Microsoft Justice Reform Initiative
• Lily Robin, Senior Research Associate, Urban Institute
   

Support for this event is provided by the Microsoft Justice Reform Initiative. For more information on the Urban Institute’s funding principles, go to urban.org/about/our-funding. 

We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals to engage fully. Please email [email protected] if you require any accommodations or have any questions about this event.