Fortune Society Profile

Can you describe The Fortune Society’s work in supporting people directly impacted by the criminal legal system?

The Fortune Society (Fortune) serves over 9,000 individuals in a typical year through our “one-stop-shop” model of service delivery designed to support the myriad of often intersecting needs. We provide wraparound services in 14 program areas to New Yorkers with criminal justice histories, including: case management (crisis intervention, needs assessment, referrals and counseling); housing (congregate and scattered-site); education (literacy, math, and High School Equivalency (HSE) exam preparation); employment services (job readiness, subsidized transitional work, hard skills training, job placement, and retention); outpatient substance use treatment (including trauma-specific evidence-based interventions); family services (parenting classes, support groups, family reunification referrals/assistance); HIV/AIDS services (during and post-incarceration); outpatient mental health treatment services (psycho-social assessments, individual and group therapy, psychotropic medication management); care management (healthcare navigation, connection to health insurance/Medicaid, wellness care coordination); creative arts programming (drawing, theater, creative writing and music); food and nutrition programming (free healthy hot meals, nutrition education workshops, cooking demonstrations with fresh produce distribution, dietary counseling); discharge planning; benefits access; and a peer-driven Recovery Center (NEST). We also offer ATI programming, which includes access to specialized services including substance use and mental health treatment.

Fortune also operates a dedicated Research Center and a policy and advocacy center, the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy (DRCPP). Because the DRCPP is a policy center embedded in a large direct service organization, we can leverage specific advantages not available to other advocacy organizations, including: (1) cultural competency – having professional staff at every level of the agency and Governing Board who are directly impacted by the legal system helps to identify barriers to reentry, craft policy recommendations, and advocate for change; (2) access to policymakers – as a longstanding service provider, we have solid mutually beneficial relationships with policymakers, which we can leverage to gain access to key players and help advance our agenda; and (3) natural base of constituents – Fortune maintains a natural and closely connected base of grassroots constituents, serving thousands of people with legal system involvement each year through a range of discharge planning, reentry services, and alternatives to incarceration programming.

Additionally, Fortune has developed a strategy of partnering with pro bono law firms to take on housing and employment discrimination against individuals with records by having Fortune serve as the plaintiff in lawsuits against major sources of housing and employment discrimination. The Federal Court has found Fortune to have standing to sue as a plaintiff, using the rationale that since Fortune’s mission includes helping participants find housing and employment, discrimination against our clients frustrates Fortune’s mission and damages Fortune. Since people of color (POC) are disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice system, we have successfully argued that policies providing blanket exclusion against people with records have a disparate impact on POCs, and thus are a violation of civil rights laws. Fortune recently used this strategy successfully to achieve groundbreaking settlements in housing and employment discrimination cases, ending a blanket ban with a major landlord in Far Rockaway, and modifying Target and Macy’s employment screening policies.

What has been Fortune’s greatest success, and what has been its greatest challenge?

Fortune’s ability to maintain an open door policy is a significant success. We create a welcoming community where being there for some of the city’s most vulnerable citizens is not dictated by contracts. When contracts dictate services, very needy individuals wind up being precluded from getting the help they need. Many essential services are either unfunded or under-funded.

Do you think programs like those available at Fortune are replicable?

Yes, through technical assistance to other localities where similar services are not offered, we can replicate what Fortune does.

What do you think the City needs to do in order to begin resolving the massive barriers that people with arrest/conviction histories face upon reentry?

Anti-discriminatory legislation needs to be enacted, particularly with respect to housing. More funding should be designated towards transitional housing. Finally, restrictions that keep people out of housing opportunities, such as the definition of chronic homelessness, which prevents individuals who have spent over 90 days in jail or prison from housing opportunities like NYC 15-15.

As a member of the NY ATI/Reentry Coalition, which helped to produce the recently published Blueprint for Transforming Criminal Legal System Outcomes in NYC, what do you think is the most important takeaway for the City’s administration?

ATI and Reentry services should be brought to scale. Half of the men and women being released to New York City from state prison are released directly to the New York City shelter system, creating a prison-to-shelter-to-jail/prison pipeline. ATI and reentry services are a more cost effective and safe alternative.