Change the South,
Change the Nation

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Change the South.
Change the Nation.

Join us in supporting movements that are transforming the country.

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Sign up to receive email updates about our movement work, campaigns, volunteer opportunities, events, and legal cases.

What We Do

Forward Justice is a nonpartisan law, policy, and strategy center dedicated to advancing racial, social, and economic justice in the U.S. South.

We challenge and change laws, policies, systems, and practices that harm the most vulnerable in our society and keep us from full liberation. We work with movement partners and community members to:

Protect and expand voting rights

End the carceral system and its abuses of Black, Brown and poor people

Reduce barriers to re-entry and increase resources for formerly incarcerated people and their families

Ensure equal access to basic human rights like healthcare, jobs with living wages, and clean water

Reimage public safety and the role of police in our communities

We are organizers, lawyers, creatives, strategists and directly impacted people dedicated to ensuring that the ‘we’ in We the People is truly inclusive and representative of ALL Americans.

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Here’s How We Do It

We serve as a strategic partner for nonprofit organizations, coalitions, and networks at the forefront of movements organizing for a more just, equitable, and free South.

Change laws, policies, and practices

We challenge unjust and discriminatory laws, policies, and practices in court, and advocate for those that uplift ALL people

 

 

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Build a base of people and organizations

We connect community members, activists and advocates; and help provide resources they need to mobilize and stand against laws, policies and practices in their communities that marginalize and oppress.

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Shift narrative, culture, and values

Through the intentional use of language and storytelling, we center the voices, stories and experiences of those directly impacted by systems of oppression to shape and influence narratives to build collective power and create lasting change.

 

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Recent Updates

2025 FJ Annual Report

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10 Years Forward: A Decade of Transformative Change

In May of 2016, we dared to dream that we could build an organization to serve social movements on the front lines of change. We came together as lawyers, organizers, creatives, strategists and changemakers with the shared goal of Changing the South, to Change the Nation. 

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Forward Justice Response to Louisiana v Callais

Yesterday, as we filed our appeal in the fight against North Carolina’s discriminatory photo voter ID law, the US Supreme Court gutted one of the few remaining protections of the Voting Rights Act. The decision in Louisiana v Callais is not only judicial overreach, but a direct attack on our democracy, Black and brown voters, and Black political power across the south.

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NC NAACP Announces Appeal in Decision Upholding
Discriminatory Photo Voter ID Law

Attorneys representing the NC NAACP, and several local NAACP county chapters, filed a Notice of Appeal with the Middle District of North Carolina today in their lawsuit opposing S.B. 824, the discriminatory photo voter ID law that restricts access to the ballot for thousands of Black, Brown and poor North Carolinians. 

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The Transition of Rev. Jesse Jackson

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Announcing a New Chapter with Forward Justice

Forward Justice and our sister Forward Justice Action Network are proud to announce the launch of two new projects: The Second Chance Federation (SCF) and Second Chance Federation Action (SCFA).

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Immigration Policies, ICE Raids, and Their Implications

Written by Isela Gutierrez

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2023 Forward Justice Gala

Join us as we journey through the history of our organization and the bold visioning for our future within the movement as we usher in the Third Reconstruction.

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Forward Justice 2022 Annual Report

We made strides toward the creation of a Third Reconstruction in this country by establishing and protecting, and preserving the right to vote, addressing poverty and low wages, and continuing to dismantle mass incarceration.

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Unlock Our Vote Freedom Summer

We’ve won the biggest expansion of voting rights since the Civil Rights Act, and restored voting rights to over 55,000 North Carolinians.

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PPC June 18th Moral March on Washington

We spent Juneteenth weekend in Washington, DC with our partners at the Poor people Campaign for the Mass Poor People’s and Low Wage-Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls.

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Forward Justice 2021 Annual Report

Protecting and expanding voting rights, ensuring pandemic protections for incarcerated people, and fighting for pardons after wrongful convictions were just some of our victories last year.

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