Our Mission
We are transforming the infrastructure of public safety & public health to create safer communities.
Systemic inequities foster individual vulnerabilities that lead to violent and antisocial behaviors. In a system that is too focused on ‘punishment,’ meaningful solutions grounded in the health and well-being of families and communities remain siloed and underdeveloped.
We are building more robust and equitable public health solutions that meet the needs of our biggest public safety challenges. By reconstructing the ways our systems interact and realigning scarce resources, we can address root causes, minimize the criminal legal footprint, and create safer, healthier communities.
Our Vision
Safer, healthier communities with access to equitable health and safety resources.
We are working towards a future with the right infrastructure to deliver the resources communities need most. We envision a system where solutions are more just and fair, resources more equitably distributed, and opportunity is enabled for all. By making these systems more accessible and precise, we unlock the possibility of our communities.
OUR APPROACH
P2PH works alongside partners to build and scale solutions that transform public health’s role in addressing public safety. We sit at the intersections of public health and public safety systems, spanning their component parts and key actors. We bring deep expertise and connections across government and non-profit partners, helping identify, advocate, and scale opportunities for reform.
CONVENING STAKEHOLDERS
We bring together leading organizations across public health and safety to coordinate resources, develop shared priorities, and facilitate collaboration across the ecosystem.
ADVOCATING
REFORM
Our expertise informs how we organize partners to influence budgetary and policy decisions, and we are leading the conversation on reform at the city and state levels.
INNOVATING
SOLUTIONS
We support innovative new solutions that transform the role of public safety, helping scale and improve strategies alongside our partners and local communities.
OUR VALUES
1. Create Space for Collaboration
We believe that progress comes from unlocking collaboration. By bringing together the wider possible range of stakeholders, we can share information, align on priorities, break down bureaucracy and enable action.
2. Focus on Root Causes
Our work addresses the root causes of public safety challenges, identifies the larger social drivers of inequity, and creates cross-sector solutions that support those at risk and lift up those in the criminal legal system.
3. Elevate Community Voices
We recognize that public health and public safety institutions have historically failed to elevate and listen to marginalized communities. We believe in integrated community action, with local members playing an active role in leading our work.
4. Cultivate Lasting Innnovation
To deliver real reform, we must create sustainable solutions. Across our work, we focus on measurement and scalability, so we can demonstrate efficacy, gain buy-in and generate momentum behind the programs we support.
OUR HISTORY
From Punishment to Public Health (P2PH) is a unique collaboration led by The John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), in partnership with over a dozen institutional stakeholders focused on addressing the overuse of incarceration and its many public health impacts. Since its founding in 2013, P2PH has provided a platform for interdisciplinary dialogues and cross-sector collaborations at key intersections of public health and public safety. We leverage this platform in pursuit of our mission to highlight the endemic social and structural problems that lead to criminal justice involvement, and to position public health interventions to be successful and held accountable to better health, safety and social outcomes.
In a relatively short time, P2PH has built a strong reputation as a neutral convener of siloed stakeholders who recognize a shared set of clients but often lack a common lexicon and unified vision of success. We draw on the knowledge of front-line staff to identify and overcome persistent barriers and build consensus to recognize successful practices as the “new normal.” The projects that flow from these working groups are designed to increase the capacity of direct service providers to build durable partnerships with complementary agencies and meet the myriad needs of their most vulnerable clients.
