March 8 - Rally for a CLOSE RIKERS Budget

New York City runs the most richly funded (and richly staffed) jail system in the country while consistently delivering the worst results. And yet this year the Mayor has plans to maintain the Department of Correction’s inflated budget while cutting funding for alternatives to incarceration, housing, healthcare, education, employment, and youth services. This proposed budget is a recipe for keeping Rikers open. Elected leaders must utilize this year's budget process to invest in community resources that will improve safety and reduce incarceration, and get Rikers closed.

Read more about DOC's budget, and how it can be reinvested in our communities.

Then join us afterward in City Hall to pack the room for the preliminary budget hearing of the Criminal Justice Committee, starting at 10am. We urge everyone who can to testify in the hearing as well, or submit written testimony. Here's a testimony guide.