Our Vision
The Law and Racial Justice Center brings together New Haveners, Yale students, staff, and faculty, local government officials, and local and national experts to imagine and implement projects that advance racial justice. We bridge theory and practice to build more just communities, with a particular focus on New Haven.
We aspire to work together in community, collaborate across disciplines, and create opportunities for student-centered experiential learning. Doing that, we believe, will produce life-affirming solutions to our most pressing challenges of systemic racism.
Our Projects
Individual Mobility and Community Wealth Building
The Law School Access Program (A2LS) is an innovative pipeline program for first-generation, low-income, and under-represented minority students from New Haven and Connecticut who wish to pursue a legal career. We just welcomed our third cohort of fellows. Our next application cycle will begin in April 2023.
New Visions for Public Safety/Community Well-Being
The mechanisms we currently rely on for public safety—police, prosecution, and prisons—cause enormous harm. But what will keep us safe? The Law and Racial Justice Center engages this question through projects that promote government- and community-led responses that are non-punitive and strengthen communal ties. Our work is currently focused on restorative justice practices and community support for neighbors who are confined in jails or prisons or returning home after incarceration.
Our Team
Kayla Vinson
Executive Director
James Forman Jr.
Faculty Director
Ariane Lewis
Program Manager
Our Contact Information
Executive Director Kayla Vinson: kayla.vinson@yale.edu
Click here to join our mailing list.