City awards $16M to Long Island City nonprofit to provide post-incarceration services

The Fortune Society, a nonprofit based in Long Island City, received a $16 million contract from the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice on Friday to provide a range of post-incarceration services, including transportation, case management and mental health treatment, city officials announced.

The city offered a three-year contract renewal to the Fortune Society, which first received the contract in 2019, said JoAnne Page, president and CEO of the organization. The mayor’s office awarded the funds through the Safe in the City grant program, according to a notice in the City Record.

The contract will fund a range of post-incarceration services, including transportation from city and state jails, case management, employment readiness and treatment for mental health and substance use disorder.

“Clinical services are a core offering,” Page said, noting that the majority of clients who receive services from the organization have behavioral health conditions. Licensed mental health and substance use treatment is funded both by Medicaid and through grants and contracts, she added.

Page said that providing services that help individuals find stability after leaving the carceral system is critical because it preserves the safety and stability of the communities that they return to.

“This is a really important program because it’s directly linked to community safety,” Page added. “These are life-giving, life-supporting services.” The Fortune Society served 11,000 people during the last calendar year, around a quarter of which were unhoused, Page said.

The organization offers emergency, transitional and supportive housing, but those services are not funded under the recent contract.

The Fortune Society was founded in 1967. In addition to its service center in Long Island City, the organization has facilities in Morrisania and Harlem, Page said. —Amanda D’Ambrosio