“The Bail Project is an unprecedented national effort to combat mass incarceration by keeping tens of thousands of Americans out of pretrial detention. – With your help, within five years, we will establish 40 sites across the country with the goal of paying bail for 160,000 people over that period. There is a long tradition in the United States of black communities pooling money to buy their loved ones out of slavery. That tradition continues into the present day in the form of community bail funds all across the country. Churches, advocacy groups, and other community members have joined together for decades to post bail, hire attorneys, and provide resources after release. As the criminal legal system grew, communities responded with local efforts to raise bail for family and friends but struggled to keep pace with mass incarceration. Our work builds on those efforts. Our entree into that deep history came in the form of representing people who couldn’t afford cash bail in New York. The Bail Project advances our commitment to reduce the human suffering caused by this unjust system and end mass incarceration. We’re proven. We started out in the Bronx a decade ago and now we’re expanding this model to other high-need jurisdictions…”