The past year has confirmed how much good governance truly matters. Our sleeves remain rolled up—our work to help optimize institutions and leaders continues. This new blog, Institute Intelligence, is inaugurated with that in mind.

As the extensive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic became clear, many municipalities—including those participating in the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC) — implemented emergency measures to reduce their jail populations. This brief describes how those measures influenced jail populations in SJC sites between February and October 2020—and how jail populations and racial and ethnic disparities changed during the pandemic’s early months.

Building on significant momentum for evidence-based reforms to local justice systems, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation provided $18 million in grants as part of its Safety and Justice Challenge, a national initiative to reduce over-incarceration by changing the way America thinks about and uses jails. In this report, we measure and describe the effectiveness of strategies to reduce jail populations over the first three years of the initiative.

The US Capitol attack that took place on January 6, 2021 only confirmed our analysis of the Trump era: Lies and demonization are not only morally wrong but dangerous to America and all who live and work here. In this statement we reflect on the need for unity to make the post-Trump era of governance one where security and safety grounded in truth, finally, become non-negotiable.

Elections are critical to peacefully but firmly holding policymakers to account. But what happens in between those moments is where most of us living in America experience government. Safety, public health, schools, housing, roads and bridges, mass transit, parks, and economic development are just some of the core services government provides. In this post-2020 election statement, we call on stakeholders—from philanthropic and research institutions to community-based organizations and community members—to join in the work of good governance.

Named for Jay L. Kriegel, long-time chief of staff to New York City Mayor John Lindsay, the Kriegel Fellowship is a leadership and professional development program for chiefs of staff of city and state legislators serving the New York City area. The program aims to support and empower legislative chiefs of staff to excel in their current positions, and grow confidently into the next generation of elected officials and public service leaders. In this news release we announce the inaugural class of fellows.

Our leadership and staff have decades of on-the-ground public service experience and have led the Lindsay Fellowship in Government Leadership and Practice—for New York City and State elected officials—since 2017. Based on research and interviews with NYC and NYS legislators, we launched the Kriegel Fellowship for Public Service Leaders to support and empower legislative chiefs of staff to excel in their current positions, network with other chiefs of staff and experts, and grow confidently into the next generation of elected officials and public service leaders. Here we provide more information on the mission and vision behind the initiative.

The 2020 murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, along with the killing of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others over the years is a horrifying and brutal reminder of the role that our history of slavery and structural racism continues to play in our justice system and government more broadly. With this statement, we stand with Black and all marginalized communities in their fight for equal justice.

On April 1, 2019, NYS passed comprehensive criminal justice legislation representing a major shift. Most notably, the legislation eliminates money bail and pretrial detention for the majority of misdemeanor and nonviolent felony defendants, but these reforms will also usher in major changes for law enforcement. Arnold Ventures committed $5.5 million to help four expert organizations document how statewide changes to the criminal justice system are implemented — and how effective they are — amid a challenging landscape.