Dear Friends,
I’m writing with some exciting changes that are coming to Florida Justice Institute (FJI). After four a half years of serving as FJI’s Executive Director, it’s time for me to step into a new role. We will be creating a new position of Legal Director that I will assume, and FJI will begin a search for a new Executive Director–more information on that job search can be found here. This change will allow me to concentrate on our litigation and advocacy efforts, while allowing our new Executive Director to focus on development, strategic partnerships, and guiding FJI into its new chapter. I’ll continue to serve as ED until we find the new person for the position.
It’s been an honor and privilege to lead FJI, especially taking the reins from our founder and longtime leader Randy Berg. I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished in that short time, including securing compensation to thousands of incarcerated people for the confiscation of their music, achieving the public health victory of treatment and testing for incarcerated people with hepatitis C, challenging the inhumane practice of solitary confinement in the adult and juvenile prison systems, enforcing disability accommodations for incarcerated people with disabilities across the state, stopping the criminalization of poverty in several cities by eliminating panhandling bans, preserving the right to communicate with lawyers from prison, and enforcing the First Amendment right to appear at county commission meetings. We’ve also accomplished so much from an organizational perspective, including launching our first development program, securing new funding sources, finding our way through the COVID pandemic, and securing new office space. It has truly been a team effort, and I’m forever grateful to our staff and board, as well as our extended FJI family of supporters and constituents.
FJI’s future is bright. I’ll continue litigating our civil rights cases around the state of Florida, seeking to empower and improve the lives of Florida’s most vulnerable residents, while fighting for criminal justice reform in our state. And we’ll be able to do so more efficiently and impactfully with our new organizational roles. Thank you again to everyone who has supported us. With your help, FJI will continue to achieve real change in Florida for the people who need it most.
-Dante