2014

Reforming America’s criminal justice system and advancing efforts to break cycles of incarceration in low-income communities would positively impact almost every other social challenge we face, from education to workforce development and public health. In particular, these efforts could improve opportunities for young men of color, who are disproportionately represented in the prison system and painfully absent from their families

Below, Deb Smolover and Shirley Sagawa of America Forward respond to David Brooks' most recent New York Times column. "In his most recent New York Times column, David Brooks called on President Obama to build an "Opportunity Coalition," eschewing the stalemated legislative atmosphere in Washington to form a "bipartisan groups of mayors, business leaders, legislators, activists and donors into permanent