Our Work
Leadership Training Institute
Since its founding in 2014, JLUSA’s Leadership Training Institute has provided thousands of directly impacted people across the nation with the expertise, skills, and social capital they need to be effective leaders. Today, JLUSA alumni are founding their own organizations, mounting community-based reform campaigns, sitting on boards and commissions, and advising policymakers. We are providing tools and a connection to resources so they can build local power within their own communities.
Our Scaled Reach: 2,000+ leaders trained across 45 states and Washington, D.C.,
establishing a nationwide network of proximate leaders dismantling systemic barriers from the ground up.
JLUSA’s Leadership Training Institute is built upon three pillars:
Leading with Conviction™
A cohort-based, 12-month-long advanced leadership training specifically tailored for leaders directly impacted by the criminal justice or youth justice system.
Emerging Leaders™
An intensive community-focused training specifically designed for emerging leaders organizing in communities most impacted by marginalization and incarceration.
Leadership In Action
JLUSA is activating its network of leaders needed to initiate and lead policy reform efforts in their respective communities.
International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) Certification
The JustUS Coordinating Council (JCC)
The JustUS Coordinating Council™ (JCC) is a national collective of systems-impacted leaders, community members, and national organizations who no longer demand a “Seat at the Table” but are instead “BUILDING OUR OWN.” The JCC actively collaborates with and serves as a connector to local, state, federal, and national policy stakeholders. The JCC is focused on shaping policies that protect the rights and economic mobility and stability of those affected by the criminal legal system.
Driving Systemic Change Through Leadership
The Return on Investment: From Training to Systemic Action
JLUSA does not just train; we launch systemic interventions. Our alumni convert lived experience into policy and institutional infrastructure. For example, Marcus Kelley leveraged his JLUSA training to establish The Change Up, directly organizing the campaign to end the exception in the 13th Amendment. And Marlon Chamberlain established the Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishments in order to remove permanent collateral consequences of a criminal conviction.
