The Until She’s Free Circle, a fund of Circle for Justice Innovations, is seeking applications from women, girls, trans and gender expansive people-led organizations tackling the Systems faced by incarcerated, detained, criminalized or formerly incarcerated women, girls, trans and gender expansive people.
Donor Name: Circle for Justice Innovations (CJI)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/12/2025
Size of the Grant: Not Available
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
Until She’s Free is a grantmaking initiative strictly supporting women-led organizations addressing state-sanctioned violence against women and girls, including trans women and trans girls, and gender-nonconforming people, and their criminalization and subsequent incarceration, while also elevating their leadership in bringing about foundational change.
CJI is committed to flanking organizations that are addressing current realities of incarcerated and criminalized women, girls, trans and gender expansive people and the innovative solutions needed to build power and create transformative systems change.
Focus Areas
The Until She’s Free Fund supports work in the following focus areas:
- Ending the abuse-to-prison pipeline;
- Establishing alternatives to incarceration;
- Ensuring human rights in conditions of confinement;
- Clemency campaigns for women in state and federal prisons, especially those who are elderly, infirm, and/or serving extremely long sentences;
- Family reunification, including an end to automatic termination of parental rights due to incarceration, especially for parents and children at the U.S. border; and
- Restoring rights and opportunities to women and girls taken or restricted due to a history of incarceration or detention.
Funding Priorities
This year’s USF funding priorities include:
- Carcel Conditions and Systems Control focused work organizations committed to improving conditions for those incarcerated, advocating for basic human dignity, as well as addressing harmful alternatives to incarceration (e.g., e- incarceration) and the economic related profits from Systems surveillance.
- Black and Latine Trans-led organizations advocating for ending incarceration and criminalization of trans and gender expansive people. Including but not limited to conditions and access while incarcerated and/or detained, participation in survival economy strategies, and gender-based affirming justice solutions.
- Immigration & Detention organizing around immigrant detention, family separation, and ICE deportations; political education and Know Your Rights trainings for community safety.
- Gender Affirming Care & Reproductive Justice, Health and Access for justice and systems involved women, girls, trans, and gender expansive people, including those in jails, prisons, detention centers and other forms of state supervision.
- Indigenous Practice Based and Cultural Organizing work using indigenous practices to disrupt incarceration and criminalization. Including narrative shifts, cultural organizing, and storytelling.
- Restorative, Healing and Transformative Justice work – innovative solutions to combat incarcerations and criminalization in communities, behind the wall and as an interruption and intervention to incarceration.
Eligibility Criteria
- Formerly Incarcerated, Systems involved and/or Directly Impacted women, girls, trans and gender expansive people in leadership of the organization and work
- Organization budget cannot exceed $750,000.00 dollars. This includes programs and project budgets, organizational assets, etc.
- Work must include a system change organizing strategy to end incarceration and criminalization of women, girls, trans and gender expansive people
- Current 501c3 status or fiscally-sponsored organizations with MOU
- Organizations whose work is primarily focused on the United States, including U.S. territories.
For more information, visit Circle for Justice Innovations.
