Under Attack but Not Defeated: Honoring Our Legacy with a Generative Pause

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

When I joined PJI in June 2024, I brought firsthand experience from a field facing significant reductions in funding. After years leading a philanthropic collaborative for criminal justice reform, I saw funding priorities shift, portfolios shrink, and dedicated leaders and teams transition. As the 2024 election approached, many funders redirected investments toward civic engagement under one model, overlooking that true civic participation and democracy requires inclusivity and centering justice.

I joined PJI with hope and enthusiasm, believing our work as a fully BIPOC team advancing racial equity in pretrial justice would be recognized and supported. Despite submitting more than twenty funding proposals over the past nine months, none have materialized. When our government grant was eliminated in April 2025, we lost one full-time staff member and two consultants, an all-women of color team whose knowledge and experience reflected our mission and vision.

These changes have been difficult and painful. However, our small team has continued to lead with courage, filling gaps in the field, elevating essential voices, and staying at the pulse of all the attacks on our field. We have felt both frustration and deep commitment, knowing that our presence in this work continues to matter even when resources are limited. As such, after months of reflection, our team and board have decided to enter what we are calling a generative pause. This means PJI will slow daily operations while continuing two existing projects with our partners through early 2026. This was not an easy decision, we have explored fiscal sponsorship, and are still open to this possibility, as well as pursuing fellowships and corporate partnerships. During our generative pause, we will configure a structure that is sustainable and community-rooted but volunteer-led until enough resources can be secured.

Beginning November 21, our team of four will transition to part-time status. Each of us has chosen to stay because we believe in the legacy of PJI and the future we are building together. Some of our time will be contributed in-kind as a gesture of the commitment and love we share for our community and transformation.

We view this pause not as an ending but as an intentional act of renewal and reflection. It reflects our belief that racial equity work must be sustained beyond funding cycles, disrupting the notion that once an organization becomes fully led by a BIPOC team, that the risk of disinvestment leads to its demise. PJI will continue to be a space for connection, narrative shift, and collaboration.
We have tremendous gratitude for our partners, advocates, and community members who have supported and trusted us, the conversations we’ve had recently have fueled us as we made this decision.

Over the next few weeks you will note changes to our website and our titles to reflect this generative pause. Staff will shift to an advisor title starting January 2026. Our monthly newsletter, “What’s New in Pretrial Justice” will take a pause beginning in December 2025. We hope you will help sustain PJI during this period of pause and restructuring. Our team will be sharing “love notes” we are writing to each other as tokens of appreciation for how our team has worked together and the community we built.

To sustain even minimal operations, we need your support!

• Be sure to make a one-time donation or become a monthly sustainer. All donations of $75 or more will receive a complimentary PJI t-shirt.
• Visit our shop, Justice Threads on Etsy, where each purchase supports our mission.
• Share this message with your networks and help grow our circle of supporters.
• Our research, toolkits and video content will remain accessible for you to view and share so our work can be amplified and introduced to new audiences.

Sometimes to reclaim our power we must allow for space and restoration of our structure. Together we can renew, rebuild, and transform justice.

With deep gratitude,

Guisela Marroquín

Executive Director