The Bail Project Inc

Mission

Pretrial incarceration destabilizes those who are already most marginalized: it turns housing instability into homelessness, minimum wage into unemployment, and accusations into convictions. Tonight, nearly half a million Americans, disproportionately people of color, will sleep in jail cells across the U.S. because they cannot afford the cost of their freedom. Legally presumed innocent but trapped behind bars, many will trade guilty pleas in exchange for their liberty, taking criminal records that will follow them into the job market and beyond. The Bail Project pays bail for those who can’t afford it, returning them to their families, jobs, and communities as they fight their cases. We then connect them to employment services and other resources in the community, and we advocate for systemic changes to our pretrial system. We have secured freedom for more than 30,000 people. We currently operate in jurisdictions across the country, and we aim to expand our reach in the South.

Launched in October 2019 and sponsored by anonymous donors, the Economic Opportunity Challenge was a $10 million competition designed to scale a game-changing solution to improve the economic health of low-income families in the U.S. 160 proposals were submitted to the competition and were evaluated using four criteria: magnitude of impact, strength of evidence, likelihood of success, and potential for scale. Five Finalists were announced in June 2020. The $10 million Awardee was announced in December 2020: Per Scholas, an organization working to disrupt generational cycles of poverty affecting more than 13,000 individuals seeking technology careers in cities across the U.S. Focusing Philanthropy, a multi-year philanthropic partner of Per Scholas, committed $5 million in additional funding to the original $10 million Awardee grant.

Organization Information