The Open Philanthropy Project recommended a grant of $75,000 over two years to Voices of Community Activists and Leaders (VOCAL-NY) to support the Court Watch NYC program. Court Watch NYC seeks to increase accountability by training New Yorkers to watch court proceedings, collect data, and report out what they see. The goal of the program is to improve prosecutor practices on bail, plea deals, sentencing, and other related areas. Court Watch NYC recently published its first newsletter detailing how the program works. Open Philanthropy wrote more about its interest in this work in its recent support for Court Watch Nola, as well as in suggestions for individual donors from Chloe Cockburn, Open Philanthropy's Program Officer for Criminal Justice Reform.
This grant falls within Open Philanthropy's focus area of criminal justice reform.