Episode Three: The Power of Convening

Here at Arnold Ventures, I am officially/unofficially known as the “BRIDGE guy” because of my role in organizing the Building Research Ideas and Generating Evidence event series – which brings researchers and practitioners together to discuss pressing criminal justice issues. As such, I would be remiss if I didn’t highlight the importance of convenings – arguably one of philanthropy's superpowers.  

Convenings can help break down silos of thinking and practice, socialize new ideas and innovative approaches to solving problems, and build powerful connections and partnerships. And due to relationships with researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in the field, philanthropies such as AV are uniquely positioned to make convenings a reality and a success.   

By the time you read this, the AV criminal justice team will have successfully hosted 7 BRIDGE events since the start of 2025, which some of you may have experienced firsthand. And we’re just getting started. With 16 BRIDGE convenings ahead, we’re excited about the connections, insights, and momentum still to come. You can read more about our BRIDGE Series here. 

Expanding Summer Youth Employment Opportunities in New Jersey 

There is now strong evidence from several cities that summer youth employment programs (SYEPs) reduce crime and improve outcomes for at-risk young people – including reducing injuries and deaths from gun violence. AV recently partnered with Stono Public Affairs to host an event in New Jersey centered on SYEPs. The event underscored the individual, community, and public safety benefits of SYEPs. The keynote speaker was New Jersey’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo. He highlighted state grant opportunities for SYEPs, types of experiences offered, and protections offered to youth workers. Later, attendees heard from two panels which included mayors, state Senator Benjie E. Wimberly, researchers, business leaders, law enforcement, and providers. This event was one component of AV’s broader effort to increase the availability of SYEPs across the country. 
 

States Lead the Way on Eliminating Crack Cocaine Sentencing Disparities 

For years, many people convicted of possessing crack cocaine have received harsher sentences than people possessing equivalent amounts of powder cocaine – a difference without any public safety benefit. This disparity disproportionately affects Black defendants and has led to severe inequities in sentencing and incarceration. Efforts at the federal level to eliminate this sentencing disparity, known as the Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law Act or EQUAL Act, have unfortunately stalled in Congress.  

However, states including Arizona and Virginia are the latest to take action to eliminate similar disparities in their state codes. With the addition of these states, 46 have now passed laws to address their disparities – demonstrating the bipartisan and common-sense nature of these efforts. If Congress were to act and pass the EQUAL Act, tens of thousands of inequitably sentenced people in federal prison would have the opportunity to have their sentences reduced. This would provide the opportunity to direct the dollars that would have been spent on long prison sentences to other, more productive policies. 
 

Advancing Evidence-Based Solutions and Causal Research Through “Innovation Days”

In the News

• AV believes that recently announced cuts to Department of Justice funding and programs threaten public safety and undermine efforts to reduce crime. Read the full statement from AV Vice President of Criminal Justice Policy Juliene James.  
   
• In Oklahoma, First Lady Sarah Stitt is leading efforts to improve reentry and rehabilitation opportunities for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. For Second Chance Month, we spoke with First Lady Stitt about her efforts, their effects, and why she undertakes this work. Read the Q&A here.  
   
• Poor conditions are pervasive in US prisons, and this has a profound impact on staff, incarcerated people, and public safety. As discussed in a recent Inside Philanthropy article featuring quotes from AV Vice President of Criminal Justice Policy Juliene James, AV is investing heavily to study the effects of alternative models of incarceration that are based on safety, rehabilitation, and restorative justice.  
   
• Recently, thousands of corrections staff in New York engaged in an unauthorized strike to protest poor working conditions and policies they perceived would make them less safe. As Andy Potter, founder and executive director of One Voice United, explains in a new op-ed for Corrections1, far from being an isolated or localized issue, the strike is illustrative of the wide-ranging crisis of understaffing and overcrowding that is gripping prisons systems across the country. To learn more about this issue, please visit the Safer Prisons, Safer Communities website.  

• In the first of a series of policy papers, Vital City outlines key recommendations to reduce violent crime and disorder on the New York City subway based on data analysis and discussions with experts. 

• The University of Notre Dame’s Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO) has published an evaluation of the Step Up cognitive behavioral therapy program at the Lubbock County Detention Center in Texas. It reveals promising results, including potential long-term benefits. 

• Quattrone Center 2025 Spring Symposium
  • May 13-14
  • University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
  • Philadelphia, PA
• Causal Inference Workshop (Practitioners stay tuned for registration details) 
  • October 17
  • 2025 International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Conference  
  • Denver, CO
• Causal Inference Workshop (Researchers stay tuned for registration details) 
  • November 11
  • 2025 American Society of Criminology (ASC) Conference 
  • Washington, D.C.
• The Virtual Crime Economics (ViCE) seminar series happens most Thursdays. It is open to researchers, including PhD students. To receive emails about upcoming seminars (with registration links) please sign up here.