The Circle for Justice Innovations (CJI) is accepting proposals for its 2025 Until She’s Free grant cycle, an initiative designed to support women-led organizations addressing systemic violence and incarceration targeting women, girls, trans women and girls, and gender-nonconforming people. Applications are due by May 12, 2025, at 11:59 PM Pacific Time. This grant provides unrestricted general operating support and access to capacity-building opportunities aimed at organizations working to dismantle the abuse-to-prison pipeline and develop transformative responses to state-sanctioned violence.
The Until She’s Free initiative was launched in 2020 as a participatory grantmaking circle, comprising formerly incarcerated organizers, donors, and activists who collectively determine funding decisions. The fund supports strategic efforts that address the rising incarceration of women in the United States and the complex intersections of gender-based violence, trauma, reproductive oppression, and legal injustice.
Eligible projects may focus on several issue areas, including ending the abuse-to-prison pipeline, advocating for clemency, creating alternatives to incarceration, addressing confinement conditions, restoring rights and opportunities for formerly incarcerated women, and promoting family reunification—especially where incarceration leads to parental rights termination. It may also extend to other forms of systemic violence, such as reproductive injustice and criminalization stemming from laws like the Texas abortion ban.
Applicants must be women-led organizations. Although specific eligibility criteria and funding levels for 2025 have not yet been disclosed in the available materials, previous grant cycles have distributed $20,000 per organization, with over $900,000 awarded since inception. Organizations selected receive not only funding but also access to technical assistance and educational resources to help strengthen internal capacity and operational sustainability.
An eligibility quiz and registration for an informational webinar are available on CJI’s website, along with additional application resources. Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to review the Request for Proposals and other supporting documentation before applying. Questions may be directed to info@cjifund.org. The Circle for Justice Innovations is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.
