Mission Statement: The Ella Baker Center organizes to shift resources away from prisons and punishment towards opportunities that make our communities safe, healthy, and strong. Named after civil rights hero Ella Baker, we mobilize Black, Brown, and low-income people to build power and prosperity in our communities.
For over twenty-five years, we’ve been working to advance people-powered campaigns for racial and economic justice – and we are winning.
Everyone wants to live in a healthy and strong community that they have the opportunity to help shape.
But prisons, policing, and punishment-based approaches make us less safe, and prevent people of color and low-income communities from influencing policies that impact our lives. Communities face struggling schools, family separation, and a lack of opportunities as a direct result of being disproportionately policed and punished.
We must engage in a process of Truth and Reinvestment: telling the truth about the impact of our country’s long history of racial injustice, building the power of those who have been harmed, and engaging them as leaders to reinvest resources in healing our communities.
In a world where resources are invested in growth and support instead of punishment and prisons we will all be able to reach our full potential. Communities with more opportunity for everyone are safer, healthier, and more just for all.