Six decades of Human Justice.
“As for me, I start from the proposition that no matter how bad things get, they can improve. The question is: How soon and to what extent? My job is to develop the next generation of leaders, who will make tomorrow better than today for the incarcerated, the formerly incarcerated, and everyone connected to that community of human beings.” — Eddie Ellis
The formula we coined.
Since 2011, the Center has advanced Human Justice, coining the formula “Human Rights + Human Development = Human Justice.”
We believe that Human Justice, its philosophical and methodological approaches, are the most effective framework for achieving justice, safety and the wellbeing of communities. In 2012, we created the tag “from criminal justice to Human Justice” to describe our vision and how we address and operationalize decriminalization, decarceration and justice reform work by centering pathways for building capabilities and capacity of the neighborhoods hardest hit by policing and incarceration.
This tag also describes our efforts in advocating for and creating the infrastructure for the reallocation of resources such that they become direct investment into the lives of people in those neighborhoods most impacted by criminalization.
From a cell in Green Haven to 20 acres of land.
- 1960s
The Panther years
- Founder Eddie Ellis joins the Black Panther Party and co-founds the New York City chapter.
- 1970s
Targeted, and thinking
- Eddie is targeted by COINTELPRO and sentenced to 25 years to life.
- He lives through the Attica prison uprising.
- Eddie joins the Green Haven Think Tank, which authors the Seven Neighborhood Research Study.
- 1980s
Organizing from inside
- Prison construction booms.
- Nationwide organizing leads to the National Criminal Justice Commission Report calling for a moratorium on prison construction.
- Eddie founds the Resurrection Study Group and organizes legislative hearings inside Green Haven Prison.
- 1990s
Coming home
- Eddie comes home and founds the Community Justice Center in Harlem.
- He joins the Neighborhood Defenders Service.
- Youth organizers form the Prison Moratorium Project, mentored by Eddie.
- 2000s
A think tank of our own
- Eddie proposes a policy think tank staffed by formerly incarcerated people and receives a $250K grant from Open Society Institute.
- He creates the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions at Medgar Evers College.
- The Prison Moratorium Project stops prison expansion; the two organizations merge into an intergenerational powerhouse.
- 2010s
Human Justice is named
- The Human Justice Theory of Change launches publicly at 1199 with Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover and Gus Newport.
- The Center is renamed the Center for NuLeadership on Human Justice and Healing.
- Eddie advises NYC on Credible Messenger programs — an initial $10M investment against gun violence.
- An unprecedented arrest diversion program launches in Bed-Stuy.
- Eddie passes away in 2014.
- 2020s
Resourcing the people
- CNHJH raises $1M for guaranteed income, pathways to home and land ownership, and community generational wealth.
- Trinity Church Wall Street hosts the 10-year anniversary of Human Justice.
- CNHJH incubates the NuLegacy Center on Earth and Human Wellness with Wildseed Community Farm.
Eddie Ellis, ten years on.
“We will never achieve justice if the starting point is criminal.”
We welcomed community to the 10th Anniversary Memorial Celebration on Saturday, July 27th at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture – New York Public Library, to celebrate Eddie’s visionary leadership and legacy to shift the paradigm for safety, justice, and accountability from one of criminal justice to Human Justice.
See the celebration program