Fortune Society

The Fortune Society has received substantial funding from government grants. ³ In 2024, the group received a $7.5 million contract from the New York State Department of Health. ⁴ The Fortune Society has also received millions in funding from the New York Department of Housing and Urban Development and the New York Department of Health and Human Services. ⁵

Activities

General Activities

The Fortune Society offers services to formerly incarcerated individuals, including rehousing efforts, employment and education placement services, mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment, and financial assistance programs. The group claims to serve approximately 13,000 people annually. ^{6  1}

In 2019, the Fortune Society filed a lawsuit in federal court against retail store Macy’s, alleging the company used an employment screening policy that disproportionately disqualified former criminals. In 2020, the Society and Macy’s reached an agreement under which Macy’s agreed to hire an expert to review its criminal-history screening policies to ensure fairness. ^{7  8}

In May 2020, the Fortune Society joined 207 human-services organizations and over 1,500 human services workers in signing an open letter that urged then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) to fund human services workers and organizations as “essential workers” during the COVID-19 pandemic. ⁹

Government-Contracted Projects

In January 2026, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) announced a re-launch of a former housing project, Just Home, an initiative to convert an old Bronx hospital building into 83 subsidized low-income housing apartments for formerly incarcerated New Yorkers. Mamdani selected the Fortune Society to serve as the developer and service provider for the Just Home initiative, which is a part of Mamdani’s Justice-Involved Supportive Housing (JISH) initiative. ¹⁰

In 2024, the Fortune Society received a $7.5 million contract from the New York State Department of Health’s Opioid Settlement Fund. The contract specifically highlighted that its awardees must use the funds to serve what it calls “[p]riority populations [which] include Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC); those who are unhoused; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) communities; older adults, people who are pregnant or parenting; and people in the criminal justice system.” ⁴

David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy (DRCPP)

The Fortune Society also advocates public policy through its David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy (DRCPP), which it launched in 2007. Initiatives that Fortune has supported through DRCPP have included closing the Rikers Island jail, ending what it considers mass incarceration, improving prison conditions, promoting more lenient sentencing, and expanding state-funded resources for freed convicts. New York state bills the Fortune Society has supported have included the Youth Justice and Opportunities Act, the Fair Chance for Housing Act, the Eliminate Mandatory Minimum Act, the Compassion and Reproductive Equity (CARE) Act, and the Fair and Timely Parole Act. ^{2  11}

The DRCPP and the Fortune Society won the legal case Fortune Society v. Sandcastle Towers Housing Development Fund Corp., which created the precedent for advocacy groups to challenge blanket bans imposed by landlords on renting to those with criminal records. ¹²

Leadership

As of 2026, Stanley Richards was the president and CEO of the Fortune Society, a role he assumed in 2024. He had worked at the Fortune Society for over 20 years in several roles, including as executive vice president, senior vice president, and deputy executive director of programs. Richards previously worked as the first deputy commissioner of programs and operations at the New York City Department of Corrections. He was formerly a director of client interventions at the Hunter College Center on AIDS, Drugs, and Community Health. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Hunter College and a certificate in executive management from Columbia Business School. ^{13  14}

As of 2026, Dennis Kozlowski was chair of the Fortune Society’s board of directors. He has held various management positions at SCM Corporation in New York City and Cabot Corporation in Boston, Massachusetts. He was also formerly the chief operating officer of Tyco International, where he also worked as chief executive officer and chairman of the board in 1991. In 2005, Kozlowski was convicted of stealing nearly $100 million from Tyco and was sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in prison. He served the minimum sentence of eight and a half years and was released in 2014. ^{15  16}

Finances

In 2024, the Fortune Society reported $75,972,020 in total revenue, $74,538,570 in total expenses, and $66,063,944 in total assets. In 2025, the group received $63,886,869 in government grants (approximately 84 percent of its revenue). ³

The Fortune Society has received extensive funding from federal agencies, including $2.5 million from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and $995,000 from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ⁵

In May 2024, the New York State Department of Health awarded the Fortune Society a $7.5 million contract from the Opioid Settlement Fund. ⁴

In 2020, the New York Health Foundation issued a $50,000 grant to the Fortune Society to provide formerly incarcerated individuals with COVID-19 wellness check-ins. ¹⁷