Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) (Texas)
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Headquarters Location: Austin, TX
Founded: 1999
Mission: The Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) is committed to identifying and advancing real solutions to the problems facing Texas juvenile and criminal justice systems. We provide policy research and analysis, form effective partnerships, and educate key stakeholders to promote effective management, accountability, and best practices that increase public safety and preserve human and civil rights.
Tags:
texas, juvenile justice, research, effective partnership, educate key stakeholders, over-reliance on incarceration
Summary
Stories
Expert Reviews
Leadership
From the Nonprofit
Leadership
Ana Yáñez-Correa.
Ana Yáñez-Correa was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States at the age of twelve where she worked as a domestic worker with her mother until she entered college. She has earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and a Masters Degree in Public Administration; she also holds a Ph.D. in Policy and Planning in Education Administration,…
See full bio.
Financial Data
Overhead Ratio:
25.18%
Total Revenue:
$618,259
From the Nonprofit
|
Mar 05, 2012 |
The Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan, nonprofit organization based in Austin and Houston, Texas, with statewide impact. TCJC was founded in 1999 after local activists identified a clear need for better solutions to criminal justice… Read More. |
Contact Info
E-Mail:
info AT criminaljusticecoalition.org
Phone:
512-441-8123
Facebook:
Address:
510 S Congress Ave Ste 104
Austin, TX 78704, USA
Story:
TCJC works to minimize the entry points into the juvenile and criminal justice systems – both to reduce Texas’ over-reliance on incarceration, and to lessen the devastating impact that many of our state juvenile and criminal justice policies and practices have on families. We have worked hard to address (1) deficiencies in the juvenile justice system that set youth up to fail and ultimately contribute to an increase in young people being waived into the adult system, (2) outdated and race-based practices that drive up arrests for low-level offenses and significantly contribute to jail and prison overcrowding, (3) weaknesses in court and conviction practices that lead to unequal sentencing and fill jail and prison beds, (4) a lack of treatment services, as well as under-funded and under-staffed probation and parole systems, that contribute to jail and prison overcrowding, and (5) barriers to reentry that lead many formerly incarcerated individuals back inside jail and prison walls.
Expert Reviews of Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) (Texas)
Evidence of Impact Summary:
Protex (TCJC) has been commended for its excellent work in securing long term reform in the area of reentry, drug courts, probation, and prison conditions.See expert comments.
Organization Strengths Summary:
According to experts, TCJC has been influential due to its strong leadership and staff as well as its ability to bring together policy advocacy, academic research, and community mobilization.See expert comments.
Areas for Improvement Summary:
Most experts agree that this organization would be much stronger with more consistent sources of funding and greater staff capacity and support.See expert comments.
Expert Comments: Evidence of Impact
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Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Wide Range of Successful Reform Strategies |
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ProTex (TCJC) has been a continuous presence in Texas Criminal Justice work for the past decade. TCJC has built relationships with key legislators, probation directors, judges and other county and city officials, in order to support efforts to save Texas money and improve criminal justice outcomes by reforming probation and parole, increasing access to treatment and supplemental programs in prison, making probation the primary form of punishment in the criminal justice system, improving conditions for re-entering felons, expanding the availability of drug courts, reforming the juvenile justice system and discouraging the enhancement of criminal penalties and the need to build new prisons. | ||
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TCJC has had a major impact on a variety of criminal justice issues in Texas over the past 6 years, including probation reform, re-entry issues, access to personal bond, and funding for alternatives to incarceration. It has a strong reputation for quality and has the respect of legislators. | ||
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They have the ability to get legislation passed. This is a terrific program. It produces excellent publications. It's leadership is effective. It's staff is extremely customer service oriented, intelligent, and capable. It's strategy is bipartisan in nature and collaborative. This works in Texas. | ||
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They are very effective both inside government and in the community. | ||
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They have had successful legislative campaigns to promote alternatives to incarceration in Texas which averted the need to build thousands of more prison beds. | ||
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They have been a core part of moving significant directional shifts in a state with challenging politics and a criminal justice system in dire need of reform. | ||
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They are very effective at bipartisan criminal justice and immigrants' rights reform work. | ||
Good Research and Messaging |
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They are effective at research, policy reforms, messaging, and the ability to advocate, advance, and get reforms implemented. | ||
Connections with Other Agencies and The Community |
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They have changed policies across the criminal justice continuum from arrest to reentry in Texas. They developed unlikely allies and supporters to shepherd many changes throughout the years. This group has shifted funding to programs that have evidence for positive impact for those directly affected and the larger community while preserving public safety. | ||
Raising Awareness |
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TCJC has been influential in helping turn around the state's reliance on imprisonment and shift resources towards community-based corrections. It has raised awareness, promoted, and helped pass legislation focused on prisoner re-entry. | ||
Strong Programs, Leadership & Staff |
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This is a terrific program. It produces excellent publications. It's leadership is effective. It's staff is extremely customer service oriented, intelligent, and capable. It's strategy is bipartisan in nature and collaborative. This works in Texas. | ||
Expert Comments: Organization Strengths
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Foundation Professionals (F)
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Researchers and Faculty (R)
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Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Great Staff and Leadership |
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TCJC has a dynamic executive director and a very talented and committed senior staff, including a staff attorney and lead writer, as well as a committed support staff. TCJC is also well-respected by state and local policy makers and media leaders. TCJC is fiscally sound and well run. | ||
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The leadership brings unparalleled passion, energy, and intelligence to all projects. The group produces high quality publications. | ||
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The leadership is savvy and has great political insight and organizational skills. | ||
Important Collaborations |
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TCJC works closely with local officials to establish a consensus on state-wide policy reform. It provides on-going education to policy makers, community members, and local officials through personal meetings, the web, newsletters, etc. They have strong leadership and a commitment to quality. | ||
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This is just an overall effective organization that understands the need for a link between policy advocacy, research, messaging, and community organizing. | ||
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They are community-based and capable of diverse campaigns from community organizing to legislative efforts to building bi-partisan coalitions. | ||
High Credibility |
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The organization has developed credibility and wide swath of supporters from the left and right. It has become a credible voice that policymakers look to when they need information on justice issues. | ||
Successful Bipartisan Strategy |
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TCJC has good relationships with legislators, including those on both sides of the aisle. They have a very strong legislative presence and a good relationship with the media. This is the premier advocacy group working on criminal justice reform in Texas. | ||
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Their lobbying is very strategic because it works across the aisles. | ||
Expert Comments: Areas for Improvement
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Foundation Professionals (F)
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Researchers and Faculty (R)
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Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
More Consistent Sources of Funding |
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TCJC is run on a shoe-string. Texas is a difficult environment to fundraise in. TCJC needs to increase fundraising from individual donors and diversify its donor base in order to pay salaries that will keep program staff at the organization for longer periods of time. Currently program staff leave every year to three years - this turn over prevents the development of institutional memory. | ||
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They need more staff and more funding. | ||
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I think they just need more fundraising so they can grow. | ||
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The organization is stretched too thin and has not received sufficient resources to expand its successes. | ||
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Their fundraising needs to be stronger. It would be good if they developed the ability to do major research projects in-house. | ||
Greater Staff Capacity |
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Great capacity. | ||
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They have a small staff. | ||
Leadership
Ana Yáñez-Correa
Executive Director
Executive Director
From the Nonprofit
|
Mar 05, 2012 |
The Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan, nonprofit organization based in Austin and Houston, Texas, with statewide impact.
TCJC was founded in 1999 after local activists identified a clear need for better solutions to criminal justice problems in Texas. They recognized that an organization focused on policy research, education, and advocacy would be critical to improving our state’s criminal justice system. Today, TCJC works to identify and promote safe, responsible solutions that focus on reducing criminal behavior and streamlining criminal and juvenile justice practices. Over time, we can lessen the effects of the state’s wasteful confinement policies and practices that have proven to be ineffective. For instance, Texas spends nearly $4 million every day to lock up nonviolent individuals, which is the same amount we spend to lock up violent individuals. Instead of wasting so much money on nonviolent offenses, the state could be putting tax dollars towards education, or roads and infrastructure that create jobs, or keeping property tax rates down. TCJC doesn’t work in theory, but in reality. We have built strong, trusting relationships with the practitioners who are in the system, doing the job and making decisions, to ensure that our advocacy efforts are leading to the real solutions. In fact, we’ve helped drive the passage of nearly 90 policies, supported by policy-makers on both sides of the aisle, that have improved the lives of thousands of Texans. Furthermore, reinvestments in diversions have saved taxpayers more than $2.7 billion since 2007. In addition to state-level reforms and improvements, TCJC also pushes for changes at the county level. Given Texas’ large size with 254 counties, state-level change isn’t always practical. So we continue to build relationships with leadership in major counties to build momentum for real change at the local level, too. For all of our research and policy efforts, Ana Yáñez-Correa, on behalf of TCJC, was formally honored by the Texas House of Representatives through an official resolution. Every day, we are proud to serve Texans who are impacted by the system, not just individuals who are incarcerated or under local supervision via probation or parole, but their families, probation and parole practitioners, agency heads, law enforcement, judges and attorneys, treatment providers, re-entry specialists, and other smart-on-crime advocates. |