SAN FRANCISCO – The Board of Directors of the Rosenberg Foundation has approved grants totaling $536,500 to 11 organizations who are working to fix California’s broken criminal justice system and to promote immigrant integration.

Grants approved in the area of criminal justice reform include $75,000 to the Drug Policy Alliance to reduce the number of individuals sent to state prison for drug possession; $40,000 to the African American Policy Forum for research regarding critical issues facing incarcerated women and girls in California; and $25,000 to the National Council on Crime and Delinquency for communications efforts in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that California must address its overcrowded prisons.

The Foundation also awarded $80,000 to the Institute for Local Government to support the California Reentry Council Network, a statewide collaborative of nearly a dozen local reentry councils launched in 2011 with funding from the Rosenberg Foundation. In addition, the Foundation has granted $50,000 to the Alameda County Reentry Network for its work to increase employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals.

Other innovative criminal justice reform efforts supported by the Foundation include $31,500 to the Santa Cruz County Probation Department to begin a new initiative that addresses overcrowding in local jails and $70,000 to the Council of State Governments Justice Center to partner with California’s law enforcement leaders to promote reentry and justice reinvestment.

The Foundation also has approved grants in the area of immigrant rights and integration, including $50,000 in general support to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles; $60,000 to Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice to support a coalition of unions, environmental groups, and immigrant rights activists working to protect the labor rights of carwash workers in Los Angeles; and $25,000 to PowerPAC Foundation to further innovative strategies that boost the civic participation of immigrant communities.