Throughout the country, oppressed communities benefit from the courageous, innovative, and creative advocacy and leadership by public defenders. The NAPD Fund for Justice Creative Advocacy Grant was created in April 2019 to provide them support and encouragement. One or more Creative Advocacy Grants will be awarded annually to public defender organizations that demonstrate public value through community engagement on an issue critical to client advocacy. Issues may include: an educational campaign; public policy initiative regarding criminal justice reform; public defense independence; workload advocacy. Depending on the substance of the grant request, members of the National Association for Public Defense Communicators, Workload or System Builders Committees will make up part of the award review committee, and will support the approved work in ways identified with the grantee. The NAPD Fund for Justice, Inc. board of directors will review the nominated initiatives and make award(s) in December each year. The initiatives are made in the spirit of the Public Defense Hall of Fame members, each of whom provided client-centered creative advocacy that had significant benefit to public defense systems.
We also invite you to make a donation in the name of a member of the Public Defense Hall of Fame for future Creative Advocacy Grants.