Justice League NYC (JLNYC)

Background

Justice League NYC is a left-of-center criminal project of Gathering for Justice that campaigns for policies at the city, state, and national levels. JLNYC was established in response to perceived patterns of police brutality and racial discrimination in the United States. It has sister organizations based in California and internationally.  ¹

The organization was founded by a group of activists and community leaders who sought to address these issues through protests, policy advocacy, and community organizing. The organization launched its first project in September 2014. ¹

It also fundraises for Gathering for Justice; donations made to JLNYC are reported as being made to Gathering for Justice. ²

Adovcacy

Justice League NYC promotes “Kingian nonviolence” protesting to address race issues associated with police brutality and the criminal justice system, using Martin Luther King Jr.’s protests as inspiration.  ³

JLNYC has advocated changes to police procedures, calling for greater transparency, accountability, and community policing. The organization has organized campaigns that support ending so-called mass incarceration and addressing racial and other disparities within the criminal justice system ¹

JLNYC engages in voter mobilization efforts by promoting voting rights and encouraging civic engagement, particularly among marginalized communities. The organization also advocates for the funding of education programs and school for purportedly underserved communities. ¹

Campaigns

March for Stolen Lives and Looted Dreams

In March 2020, Justice League NYC hosted a “March for Stolen Lives and Looted Dreams” in New York City in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. The event promoted a list of “demands” that included the firing of all officers involved in the death of Eric Garner; the firing of officer Wayne Isaacs, who allegedly killed Delrawn Small; and the firing of other officers who had allegedly assaulted or killed ethnic minorities. It also condemned the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) “broken windows” policing approach, arguing that it and other police tactics target ethnic minorities. ⁴

Other demands included reducing funding for the NYPD to instead fund social programs and New York City schools, having then-Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) repeal the Police Secrecy Law, banning the use of chokeholds by police, and for the immediate resignation of NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea for his treatment of protestors. In addition to the march, JLNYC provided resources for individuals to contact their representatives and elected officials to advocate for defunding the police and repealing the 50-A section of the Police Secrecy Law, which classifies the personnel records of firefighters, police officers, and correction officers. ⁴

Community Relief Fund

Justice League NYC, alongside other projects, fundraised for the Gathering for Justice’s Community Relief Fund that was created in 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic following the creation and exhaustion of a Rapid Response Fund. As of June 2026, the Gathering for Justice reported distributing $71,000 through the Community Relief Fund, following the end of the program. The fund made cash grants to individuals between the ages of 15 and 25 who had been recently released from the Juvenile Detention Center, Youth Prison, or group homes in New York and California; parents of detained or incarcerated individuals between the ages of 15 and 25 in New York and California; individuals allegedly impacted by police violence; and female and transgender political activists across the United States. ⁵

Next 250

In April 2026, JLNYC co-hosted a town hall in New York City alongside Next 250 coalition members Alliance for Quality Education, Arab American Association of New York, Faith for Black Lives, Malikah, MPower Change, New York Immigration Coalition, One Fair Wage, Poderistas, Reform Alliance, the Gathering for Justice, and Until Freedom. It was hosted in anticipation of a June 27 rally to be held in Washington, D.C. related to America’s 250th anniversary and to discuss desired changes for the following 250 years. It was led by JLNYC founder Carmen Perez and fellow former Women’s March co-chair Linda Sarsour. ⁶

The townhall discussed the details of Next 250’s “Declaration of Interdependence,” which was the focus of the coalition’s advocacy. It’s Declaration of Interdependence promoted the inclusion of Native American history and the sovereignty of Native Americans in U.S. politics. It also advocated for environmentalism as a response to the idea that humans are causing climate change, gun control to address violence, and it advocated for wage increases and mandated employee benefits to address socio-economic issues. Next 250 defined the Declaration of Interdependence as a “radical” creation, and it advocated for identity politics in opposition to the values of “individualism” America was founded on, which it claimed resulted in genocide, land theft, and slavery. ⁷

Women’s March

In November 2016, Gathering for Justice and JLNYC became the founding organizer and fiscal sponsor of the Women’s March, helping to organize its Women’s March on Washington on January 21, 2017. The event was organized at Gathering for Justice’s headquarters and reported having over 6 million participants, with support from 63 national organizers. ⁸

The Women’s March on Washington was primarily organized through Facebook posts and served to protest the inauguration of President Donald Trump, denouncing him for being allegedly misogynistic, and to promote feminism. It included over 500,000 attendees at the National Mall and demonstrations that took place on all seven continents. ⁹

Women’s March EMPOWER

Following the 2017 Women’s March on Washington, JLNYC and Gathering for Justice launched Women’s March EMPOWER, a women’s advocacy coalition that included PeaceFirst, Rise To Run, Rock The Vote, Teen Vogue, Emerge America, and the Women’s Media Center. It was created to develop a network of Women’s March-aligned chapters on college campuses and in high schools. It also encouraged chapters to engage in protests, promoted cultural influence, and advocated for incorporating the identity politics concept of intersectionality in policy advocacy. ¹⁰

Growing Up Locked Down

One of JLNYC’s first projects was Growing Up Locked Down, a three-day conference held at The New School in September 2014. Its theme was “juvenile justice,” and reported that over 800 people attended the event. It advocated for ending child incarceration and described the event as “an immersive, engaging program that included panels, live art presentations, nonviolence trainings, concerts, a film premiere and more.” ^{1 11}

March2Justice

One of the most significant initiatives undertaken by JLNYC is the “March2Justice.” In 2015, members of the organization, along with supporters, embarked on a 250-mile march from New York City to Washington, D.C. over the course of nine days. The purpose of the march was to raise awareness about police brutality, criminal justice policy, and voting rights.  ¹

The purpose of March2Justice was to express support for the End Racial Profiling Act, the Stop Militarization of Law Enforcement Act, and the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA). ¹²

The End Racial Profiling Act was a bill that would require federal, state, and local law enforcement to enact policies prohibiting profiling people based on race, gender, or sexual orientation, and would require agencies to train officers on profiling. ¹³

The Stop Militarization of Law Enforcement Act would prohibit the transfer of purportedly “offensive” military equipment from the federal government to state and local law enforcement, prohibit the transfer of surplus military equipment to law enforcement, require law enforcement agencies to return prohibited equipment, and require the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency to create a website documenting all equipment transferred to law enforcement agencies. ¹⁴

Passed in 2018, the JJDPA prohibits juveniles from being held in detention for crimes that only apply to minors, requires states to evaluate the influence of ethnicity on sentencing for youth offenders, and it restricted minors from being detained in adult detention centers. ¹⁵

Take a Knee Campaign

JLNYC and its parent organization Gathering for Justice supported then-NFL player Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel rather than stand during the National Anthem in protest of police brutality and racial injustice. It collaborated with Kaepernick to form a series of workshops called Know Your Rights, targeted at young people. The partnership used the platform Kaepernick had gained to advocate for the end of so-called mass incarceration.  ¹¹

Raise the Age

From 2015 to 2017, JLNYC ran a Raise the Age campaign along with a few other criminal justice reform groups to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18. It hosted protests and other lobbying efforts alongside partner organizations. Legislation raising the age of responsibility passed in April 2017. ¹¹

By October 2019, the law went into full effect, and the state of New York no longer automatically prosecutes 16-and 17-year-olds as adults. It introduced a new category of Adolescent Offender into the city judicial vocabulary, and individuals of these ages accused of committing a felony-level crime are ordered to have cases heard in the Youth Part of Criminal Court. Furthermore, 16- and 17-year-olds are now placed in specialized juvenile detention facilities and can under no circumstances be housed in adult facilities or jails, regardless of the crime. New York State created a Raise the Age implementation task force. The legislation also guaranteed that some individuals may now be eligible to have their crimes officially sealed if they had committed them over ten years prior. ¹⁶

People

Carmen Perez is a co-founder of Justice League NYC, the founder of Justice League CA, and, as of June 2026, the executive director of Gathering for Justice, a position she has held since 2010. She was also a national co-chair for the Women’s March. ¹⁷ In 2020, Perez co-founded Poderistas, and in 2023, she became a co-lead of partnerships and organizing for Next 250. As of June 2026, she was still co-lead for both organizations. ¹⁸

Corner Store Studios founder Marvin Bing co-founded JLNYC alongside Perez. In 2020, under Bing’s direction, Corner Store Studios partnered with Stacey Abrams’s New Georgia Project to host a Twitch the Vote streaming event during the 2020 election season to promote civic engagement amongst video game players. ¹⁹ From 2009 to 2010, Bing worked as a lead organizer for Bill Lynch and Associates; from 2011 to 2012, he worked as a training and field mobilization director for the Amalgamated Transit Union; from 2012 to 2013, he was a managing director for the AFL-CIO; and from 2013 to 2015, Bing served as the Northeast Regional Director for the NAACP. ²⁰