Sound-Justice Initiative

05/16/2026

🔥 We're Hiring | Youth Education Facilitator — Sound Justice Initiative

Sound Justice Initiative (SJI) is seeking a part-time Youth Education Facilitator to work with justice-involved and justice-impacted youth and young adults, ages 16–24, across Suffolk and Nassau Counties, NY.

This is an education and mentoring role — not a clinical position. You'll develop and facilitate trauma-informed workshops, build genuine relationships with young people, and help them move into college, vocational training, or technical programs through SJI's Education Pathway.

📍 Suffolk & Nassau Counties, NY 🕐 Part-Time | $30/hour 📅 Immediate Start

Strong candidates bring at least three of the following: ✔ Experience facilitating groups or workshops with youth or young adults ✔ Experience working with justice-involved or systems-impacted young people ✔ Background in education, reentry, college access, addiction recovery, or workforce development ✔ A current NYS peer certification (CPS, CRPA, YPA, or equivalent) ✔ Ability to build trust and hold structure with young people who have faced significant adversity

An Associate's degree or higher is helpful but not required. We strongly encourage applications from people with lived experience of justice involvement, reentry, addiction recovery, foster care, or systems-impacted families.

📩 To apply: Send your résumé, references, and a brief cover letter to [email protected] Subject line: Youth Education Facilitator

Sound Justice Initiative is an equal opportunity employer committed to education as a pathway to transformation.

🌐 www.sound-justice.org

04/24/2026

🎉 Big News from Sound Justice Initiative! 🎉

We are proud to announce that Sound Justice Initiative has been awarded a $25,000 grant from the The New York Community Trust and the Henry H. Shepard Fund!

This award is especially meaningful because it directly supports the on-the-ground work we’re doing under our $100,000 NYS Community Reinvestment Grant — a landmark investment focused on one of the most under-served and overlooked populations in our justice system: justice-involved young adults ages 17–24, including those in our correctional facilities, navigating the courts, and transitioning through community-based organizations across Long Island.

While the NYS grant anchors the broader initiative, this $25,000 fills a critical gap — ensuring we can reach young people in the communities that need us most.

With this support, we will:
✅ Guide young people through a structured reentry curriculum that opens doors to education, careers, and possibility
✅ Build personalized roadmaps with each participant — because no two journeys back look the same
✅ Walk alongside young adults as they navigate college, vocational training, and apprenticeship opportunities that once felt out of reach
✅ Cultivate the next generation of peer mentors — young people who've lived it, and are ready to lead others through it

Together, these two investments represent a comprehensive, community-rooted approach to reentry — one that meets justice-involved youth where they are and walks with them toward where they deserve to be.

Thank you to the New York Community Trust and the Henry H. Shepard Fund for seeing what we see in these young people. 💙

04/16/2026

Exciting news — BEP is partnering with Sound Justice Initiative to bring the G.R.I.T Program to our youth! 🎶💚

G.R.I.T is a music-based, interactive program where young people ages 15–24 get to explore real-life topics through music, conversation, and creative expression. This is not a lecture — it's a safe space to talk openly, build confidence, and learn how to navigate real-life challenges.

📅 Every Tuesday at 6 PM starting May 12, 2026
Contact Ms. Katie to register:
📞 (631) 591-0759 ext. 106
📧 [email protected]

Share this post to spread the word to our youth 🦋

02/15/2026

Partnerships make our work possible! 🤝 We're incredibly grateful to the Rotary Club of Southold for their generous $3,000 contribution to Sound Justice Initiative.

Our Director of Reentry & Education, Linda, had the pleasure of presenting our latest documentary and sharing SJI’s recent milestones with the Rotary members. Thank you, Rotary Club of Southold, for investing in first/second chances and education in our community.

At our meeting this week, Dr. Linda Russo from Sound Justice Initiative updated us on all the fantastic new projects their group is working on. Southold Rotary has been supporting their educational programs, assisting those who are justice-impacted, for several years. Find out more at https://www.sound-justice.org/

02/06/2026

11/12/2025

Together with M&T Bank, we’re creating pathways to financial self-sufficiency, family and community stability.

Reentry is more than a return—it’s a restoration.

10/24/2025

📢 Join Us for “Education without Walls”! 📢

We’re thrilled to invite you to a powerful panel discussion on creating seamless educational pathways for justice-involved students—from jails, courts, probation, and parole, right into college and vocational programs!

Why this event matters: We’ll tackle the challenges, celebrate innovative solutions and explore how we can collaboratively and effectively build stronger bridges to education and high-demand local industry jobs for all justice-involved people in Suffolk County.

🗓️ Date: 10/31/2025 ⏰ Time: 1-3:30pm📍 Where: [533 College Rd. Selden, NY, Babylon Student Center (Montauk Point Rm at Suffolk County Community College

Who should attend? This event is a must for educators, justice advocates, community leaders, policymakers, students, family members of justice-involved student, and anyone passionate about expanding educational opportunities. If you believe in second chances and the transformative power of education, this conversation is for you!

Sound Justice Initiative currently offers courses inside local jails and actively provides a reentry education pathway for formerly incarcerated individuals in Suffolk County NY, fostering successful reintegration and enhancing community well-being.

10/17/2025

🎉 HUGE NEWS! 🎉 We're absolutely beyond thrilled to announce that Sound Justice Initiative has been awarded one of New York State Office of Cannabis Management’s (OCM) first-ever Community Reinvestment Funds Grants! This is an incredible honor and a testament to the impactful work we do, reflecting our collective dedication to real, measurable outcomes. This monumental achievement is a direct result of the tireless efforts and passion of our amazing team, including Tiffany Hart, Elizabeth Stewart, Phyllis Bush-Butler, Dr. Russo, Dr. Chavez, and Dr. Spooner!

We may be a small organization, but this award proves the significant impact we’re making and how dedicated we are to putting funds to real work. We are considerably honored to have been awarded in this inaugural round alongside so many game-changing and impactful organizations across the state!

To make this even more exciting: Suffolk County was one of the 13 priority counties identified throughout the state, and SJI is incredibly proud to be one of only four organizations in Suffolk County to have received this prestigious grant!

As the OCM stated, “The 50 awardees […] are creating opportunities, expanding resources, and building stronger futures for their communities.” We wholeheartedly embrace this mission!

With this vital funding, Sound Justice Initiative will be launching our “Second Chances: Pathways to Success for Justice-involved Youth” program. This comprehensive initiative is a workforce development program focused on education and vocational training, designed to address educational and vocational barriers, support sustainable employment, and ensure successful reintegration for justice-involved youth.

This grant will dramatically expand our capacity to equip justice-involved youth (16-24) with the education, vocational training, and crucial support services they need to secure sustainable employment and successfully reintegrate into the community. This isn’t just change; it’s a pathway to lasting stability, independence, and the opportunity for our youth to build meaningful careers and thrive. Thank you, OCM, for recognizing our dedication and investing in a future where our community’s young people can truly succeed! And thank you to our partners throughout Suffolk County!

10/17/2025

Wow, what an absolutely incredible week it’s been for Sound Justice Initiative (SJI)! So much exciting news to share, it’s hard to know where to begin!

First up, if you’re on Long Island, clear your schedule on October 31st from 1-4 PM! You won’t want to miss SJI at Suffolk County Community College (SCCC) for a cutting-edge discussion. We’ll be bringing together academics, practitioners, and agencies to talk about reversing the pipelines through education. Mark your calendars – more details on this truly impactful event coming very soon!

And the big news doesn’t stop there for SJI! Let's just say, we have the best collective of people working at SJI – our team is phenomenal! We were recently honored with an invitation to present at SUNY’s Office of Higher Education in Prison – and OMG, what a presentation it was! Tiffany, Linda, and Martha absolutely knocked it out of the park on behalf of SJI, even among a conference full of other top-notch presentations—it was hard to leave knowing there were so many more people and knowledge we still needed to learn from.

Their compelling argument for implementing college-level liberal arts courses in county jails, paired with a robust reentry education and mentoring pathway, is absolutely crucial. It’s truly transformative!

And the impact speaks for itself. Just look at these statistics from August 2024 to August 2025:

We received over 200 referrals!
A remarkable 84% of those successfully enrolled into our Education Pathway Program.
Of those, 54% are now attending or have successfully completed college and vocational/technical training.
Plus, dozens more are eagerly waiting for courses to begin in the Spring or the next vocational cycle!

That’s just from this past year alone. Imagine the incredible things we’ll achieve together in the coming year!

09/01/2025

📢 Big news from the Sound Justice Initiative (SJI)! 📢 We’re absolutely thrilled and honored to share that SJI has been invited to present at the annual SUNY OHEP conference! 🎉

It’s a true privilege to be counted among some of the most impactful programs working with justice-involved men, women and youth across New York State. This is what it’s all about, folks – learning from one another, collaborating and partnering so we can make an even bigger, more sustainable impact on people, families, and communities. That’s the SJI spirit! 💪

And for an extra special treat, we’ll also have a surprise sneak peek of our new documentary, featuring the true heroes of SJI: our incredible students and participants!

Join Us!

Sound Justice Initiative currently offers courses inside local jails and actively provides a reentry education pathway for formerly incarcerated individuals in Suffolk County NY, fostering successful reintegration and enhancing community well-being.