Mission Statement
The Center for Institutional and Social Change mission is to advance just and equitable legal and social institutions by anchoring systems change in the leadership of those directly impacted by racism and mass incarceration.
Our Core Values
Full participation: Our work focuses on building environments that enable everyone–whatever their race, identity, or social position–to gain access, thrive, succeed, belong, be heard, meaningfully participate in decisions affecting them, and contribute to the thriving of others.
Agency: We believe that people directly affected by systems must play a central role in reshaping them. Redefining priorities, practices, and policies isn’t just about having a seat at the table – it’s about having real influence. This means rethinking how power operates and ensuring that those most impacted have the full capacity to drive change.
Institutional transformation: Transforming institutions is essential to ensuring that full participation and justice are not just stated ideals, but lived realities. Their engagement is necessary to change how people actually experience opportunity, access, and participation, as well as to catalyze change in the larger society. Yet, many institutions are rooted in a history of racism and a culture reinforcing an unacceptable status quo. Institutions must both participate in and be the target of efforts to confront racism and advance full participation.
Our Approach: At CISC, we take a collaborative, transformative, and strategic approach to change, focusing on:
We create spaces where people from different backgrounds, identities, and disciplines – legal and policy professionals, community advocates, artists, and those directly impacted by unjust systems and practices– come together to share knowledge, build capacity, develop strategies, and take action. These communities serve as microspaces of justice and incubators for systemic transformation.
We rethink conventional ideas of expertise to include the knowledge and skills of those directly affected by racism and other forms of marginalization. This expertise includes knowledge of how systems actually function, fail, and affect communities, as well as how transformation can happen. Solving complex social problems requires recognizing and integrating diverse forms of wisdom, knowledge, and skill.
We strengthen the ability of individuals and organizations to work together across differences, reflect about their practices and their impacts, differentiate cosmetic from transformative change, make knowledge accessible, advocate for change, and sustain collaborations needed to move organizations and systems toward full participation. This happens through training, leadership development, transformative teaching, community building, critical participatory action research and writing, and strategic support.
We help groups that are differently situated, whether by race, class, or institutional role, identify their shared interests and work in solidarity toward shared goals and outcomes. Recognizing interconnected struggles and values allows us to build more effective, lasting multi-racial collaborations that can sustain change over the long haul.
We prioritize partnerships with those most impacted by the systems we seek to change, and organizations led by them. These collaborations ensure that our work remains rooted in the experiences, values, and aspirations of affected communities.