Credible messengers (CMs) are people with lived experience, typically in the criminal legal system, who have transformed their lives to become agents of change in their communities. With funding and support from the New York City Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity, the Urban Institute used Participitory Action Research methods to document the evidence base on the use of CMs in human services, the historical and systemic contexts surrounding their work, and the current landscape of CMs in New York City. This factsheet outlines one component of the Urban Institute’s work, the cross-program qualitative landscape scan, which summarizes the perceived successes, impacts, challenges, and needs of CMs and the organizations/agencies that employ them. It concludes with eight recommendations for improvement and capacity building in CM work.