Annual Report 2026

Dear Friends, Partners, and Allies,

Every year, JustLeadershipUSA sets out with a singular, unyielding conviction: the vertical expertise of those closest to the problem is the most powerful tool we have to dismantle the carceral state. As I look back on the incredible strides we made over the past year, I am filled with immense pride for our community and a renewed determination for the work ahead. Together, we have continued to amplify the voices of directly impacted leaders, shift national narratives, and drive meaningful policy change across the country.

This has been a year defined by our deliberate movement toward innovation, strategic expansion, and powerful advocacy. We have refused to stand still, instead finding new, unexpected ways to scale our model and deepen our national footprint. A premier example of this evolution is the launch of our Leading with Conviction+ cohort, which takes our signature LwC training to the next level, equipping seasoned alumni with advanced tools for executive leadership and systemic advocacy.

Central to our innovation this year has been our intentional work with Unlikely Allies. By building unconventional partnerships across sectors, we have successfully broadened the coalition for justice and produced cutting-edge, community-led research that is reshaping the field. This includes the release of our groundbreaking Cost of Conviction, Building the Table, and Health Equity reports critical bodies of work that ground policy discussions in rigorous data and the raw human realities of the carceral system.

Simultaneously, JLUSA has significantly expanded its influence within federal spaces. Through historic federal partnerships, we have been trusted to cultivate and launch Community Advisory Boards (CABs) ensuring that directly impacted expertise directly shapes federal policies, oversight, and community reinvestment initiatives. To anchor this work, we launched a series of national listening sessions, gathering invaluable insights directly from the field, while expanding our internal infrastructure to support research fellows who equip our network with the analysis needed to win systemic campaigns.

Our work is far from finished, but our foundation has never been stronger. Because of your steadfast support, our network of leaders continues to grow, our advocacy continues to penetrate the halls of power, and our collective vision for a just world remains clear. Thank you for standing with us, investing in our leadership, and marching with us toward true liberation. Our experience is our expertise. It always has been and always will be.

Forward Together,

DeAnna Hoskins
President & CEO
JustLeadershipUSA

JustLeadershipUSA Core Programming

JustLeadershipUSA is one of the nation’s only justice organizations that is both founded by and led by formerly incarcerated people. We are committed to educating, elevating, and empowering people and communities most impacted, so that they can dismantle racist and oppressive systems and together build a just U.S.

The need for JLUSA’s work is urgent and well-documented, as the United States continues to lead the world in incarceration and grapples with the profound, racialized impacts of its criminal legal system.

Nearly two million people— disproportionately Black and Brown individuals—are currently behind bars, while one in three adults in the U.S. carries a criminal record. These statistics reflect decades of discriminatory policies that have created a deeply inequitable economy and society, where incarceration not only strips individuals of their freedom but continues to restrict access to employment, housing, education, and civic life long after release. Rather than offering rehabilitation, the post-carceral system reinforces exclusion and poverty across generations. JLUSA responds directly to these systemic failures by addressing a critical gap in leadership, policy advocacy, and accountability—empowering those most impacted by incarceration to lead the movement for change. Through signature programs like Leading with Conviction+™ and Emerging Leaders™, JLUSA equips directly impacted individuals with the skills, networks, and platforms necessary to advocate for reform and expand access to economic mobility. By intentionally investing in this leadership pipeline, JLUSA confronts the reality that people with lived experience (PwLE) are often excluded from the policy design processes that shape their lives, despite their deep understanding of how these systems operate—and fail.

JustLeadershipUSA is accredited by the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and offers IACET Continuing Education Units (CEUs). Since earning certification in June 2023, JLUSA has held 14 training events, serving 514 participants, and awarding nearly 800.00 CEUs.

Emerging Leaders (EL)

EL is a two-day training program for directly impacted people, organized in collaboration with a community-based partner. Participants will have demonstrated a commitment to systemic criminal and/or juvenile justice reform. While rooted in core curriculum topics, EL is customizable based on the needs of the community and organizations JLUSA works with.

The training provided practical skills in leadership, community organizing, strategic communication, and systems change while connecting me with a powerful network of directly impacted leaders from across the country. Most importantly, JLUSA reinforced the belief that lived experience is essential in criminal justice reform efforts. My time spent in prison in connection with my doctoral-level training at the University of Michigan gives me a unique perspective on policy issues. Looking back, Emerging Leaders was an important stepping stone in the path that eventually led me to my current role as a Research Fellow with JustLeadershipUSA.

Dr. Aaron Kinzel

Research Fellow, JLUSA / EL Detroit 2019, Illinois

Leading with Conviction+ (LwC+™)

Including the core foundational elements of our original Leading with Conviction™ program, LwC+ includes enhanced offerings that focus on the technical skills that are core to senior leadership. LwC+ is open to any systems-impacted leaders aspiring to or currently serving in a senior-level leadership position. Over this past year, 9 directly impacted senior leaders completed the LwC+ pilot program.

“ I had lost my voice, and really the piece about standing in your power, knowing your greatness, it was a struggle for me. … This process has really helped me regain my voice and stand and be bold. And it’s because I regained my voice that I went from Development Director to Executive Director. And by and large, I credit my experience to not only LwC, but Emerging Leaders™ was the first point. It was the first time I saw other people that had convictions like my own speaking so boldly and standing in their power, and it made me believe, you know, I can do this too.”

Cecilia Zavala

LwC 2023 / LwC+ 2026, Illinois

Year In Review

Leading with Conviction+ Launches

LwC+ builds on the core leadership foundation of JLUSA’s original Leading with Conviction™ program by adding focused training on the real-world skills needed to lead an organization. In addition to individual leadership development, participants learn how to read and use financial reports, build and manage budgets, oversee staff and organizational culture, work effectively with a board of directors, and ensure legal and ethical compliance. The program also includes executive coaching, peer learning, and hands-on training in areas like fundraising, strategic planning, and operations. This added focus helps leaders not only grow personally, but also run strong, sustainable organizations and make informed decisions that support long-term impact.

The inaugural cohort of nine leaders began LwC+ in October 2025 and graduated from the program in April 2026 with a final in-person gathering in Washington, D.C.

My experience with the LwC+ was a blessing. Eye-opening. And I came into it feeling like I had a lot of leadership, management, and director-level experience, so I didn’t know how much new information I would be exposed to. It was more than I anticipated! … I feel like I’m part of a network where if I had questions, I’ve got access to information and perspectives and insights that I could tap into, rather than being left to my own devices. It just feels good to be an alum, at this point.

Robert Brown

LwC+ 2026, Indiana

JustUS Coordinating Council Celebrates Three Years

The JustUS Coordinating Council™ (JCC) was launched in April 2023, and over the past three years has grown to more than 500 individual and organization members. The JCC has produced a series of national landscape reports, including the most recent The Cost of Conviction, published in partnership with the Hip Hop Caucus and Americans for Financial Reform. The JCC also produces a regular webinar series and other valuable resources such as Tools of the Game volumes 1 and 2, Reentry Mythbusters, etc.

Moving from Second Chances to Fair Chances

For the past two years, JLUSA and the JCC have been promoting #SecondChancesInAction as a way to equip and mobilize people across the country to take action during April (“Second Chance Month”). We partnered with Ben & Jerry’s to kick off this campaign last year, and this year we began the transition from “Second Chance” language to talking about “Fair Chances.” This year, we also partnered with the producers of the In Their Hands documentary, which aired across the country on PBS stations and through local viewing parties. Priorities listed in our 2025-2029 Roadmap, including continuity of care, increased investment in reentry outcomes, and new opportunities in housing and employment, also took center stage this year in a bipartisan Congressional briefing in the U.S. House of Representatives, bringing the voice of the organization and coalition straight to the halls of our nation’s capital.

Breaking New Ground

In 2024, JLUSA President and CEO DeAnna Hoskins became the first formerly incarcerated person to serve as a White House Fellow in the 57-year history of the program. She took a year-long sabbatical to serve six months in the Biden administration and six months under the Trump administration, and returned to JLUSA with a wealth of knowledge.

She also became the first formerly incarcerated person to serve on the board of the American Probation and Parole Association, and she was appointed as Assistant Adjunct Professor at Yale School of Medicine for her role in the “ADdressing Vaccine AcceptaNce in Carceral Settings through Community Engagement (ADVANCE)” project.

Building Strategic Partnerships through Unlikely Allies: American Heart Association and Yale University

JLUSA is currently working with Yale University on a five-year research project, funded by the American Heart Association (AHA): 1) to study ethical approaches towards engaging incarcerated individuals in research and 2) to study the association between features of incarceration (e.g., diet, exercise, work experiences in prison, length of incarceration, age at first incarceration) and cardiovascular health using the AHA’s measures. Research shows that justice-involved populations experience disproportionately high rates of chronic disease, including hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, which contribute to significant health disparities and premature mortality. The long-term goal is to improve the cardiovascular health of incarcerated people.

[can we embed a short edited version of the intro to the Consent Video?]

Municipal Court Reform

JLUSA and the Center for Justice Innovation facilitated focus groups and surveys of people directly impacted by municipal courts; a series of webinars engaging court practitioners; and a national convening in October 2025 that brought together 185 directly impacted individuals, court practitioners, community providers, and academics. These efforts were guided by a national steering committee with equal representation across system-impacted persons, judges, scholars, and advocates. What emerged from those conversations was a clear pathway to justice that could positively impact millions of lives.

JustUs Speaks Podcast Amplifies Voices of Our Leaders

JLUSA launched the JustUs Speaks podcast three years ago to amplify the voices of our directly impacted leaders, particularly our recent graduates of Leading with Conviction™ and other national leaders in the criminal justice reform space. To date, we’ve published 40 episodes with more on the way soon!

Justice & The Next 250

In advance of the 250th anniversary of the U.S., we partnered with The Just Trust to publish a series of original articles and reflections from formerly incarcerated leaders on the theme of “Justice & The Next 250.” This series touches on many different aspects of criminal justice reform and what the future can and should look like if we listen to the expertise and leadership of people with lived experience.

JLUSA Leaders: In Memoriam Over the past six months, JLUSA has lost two of its national leaders:Ronnie Waters (1962-2025) was a member of the 2023 Leading with Conviction™ cohort and appeared on the JustUs Speaks Podcast in 2024. Ronnie had been serving as a Community Engagement Specialist with Safe & Just Michigan, as well as CEO and owner of Over 40, LLC. He was also a former juvenile lifer.Dr. Patrice Palmer (1962-2026) was a graduate of the very first Leading with Conviction cohort in 2015. She was also the co-founder of Chosen4Change, a cognitive behavioral therapy modality that equips hurting individuals with necessary tools to break the cycles of dysfunctional thinking, actions, and behaviors.

Annual Report 2026