New Justice Project
New Justice Project MN is a left-of-center organization founded in 2022 that asserts that there is systemic racism in the United States and focuses on jobs, housing, and politics. The New Justice Project MN advocates for defunding the police, reducing public safety funding throughout Minnesota, and the early release of prisoners from incarceration. 1
Contents
New Justice Project MN supports the Green New Deal to restrict conventional fuels, enact mandates for carbon-free buildings, and end to the construction and use of energy pipelines. 2 New Justice Project MN claims it seeks to elevate the Minneapolis Office of Race and Equity to an executive level position in the city. The organization has called for a mandate that any city-funded development of over $2 million must give hiring precedence to members of ethnic and racial minority communities. 3
New Justice Project MN claims there is a fundamental right to housing and seeks both the state and county to provide more publicly funded housing projects. The group also seeks to allow renters to unionize and to establish requirements that the government provide attorneys to individuals facing eviction. 4
Positions
Environment
New Justice MN asserts the African-American community needs to be at the forefront of fighting global warming, claiming that the white community has historically been looked toward as leaders. 5 The New Justice MN is part of the MN Green New Deal coalition that seeks to end the use of conventional fuels, mandate electric school buses, require 100 percent carbon-emissions-free buildings, require greenhouse gas emission reduction by 42 percent by 2030, and make energy pipelines obsolete. 2
Policing
New Justice Project MN runs a campaign through canvassing and educational programs pushing for the abolition of the police and decreasing public safety budgets at the city, county, and state levels. 6 New Justice Project MN advocates releasing incarcerated people prior to the end of prison sentences and pushes for early work release. 1
Equity
New Justice Project MN advocates for funding through a racial and equity-based lens and seeks to elevate the Office of Race and Equity in Minneapolis to an executive office with an initial appropriation of $10 million a year. 3 New Justice Project MN seeks a mandate that workers for any city-funded development of $2 million or more must come from ethnic and racial minority groups and will push the City of Minneapolis to train any workers who lack requisite skills. 3
Housing
New Justice Project MN states that housing is a fundamental right and seeks state funding for the creation of state and county-owned housing for people regardless of income or criminal history. 7 As o 2024, the New Justice Project MN is working with the Minneapolis city government to pass an ordinance providing attorneys to low-income tenants facing eviction. 8 The groups also seek to allow tenants to form unions to negotiate around rent increases and file grievances at the local and state level. 4
Finances
The New Justice Project MN is fiscally sponsored by TakeAction Minnesota. 9 In 2022, a bill was introduced in the Minnesota House of Representatives to appropriate a $875,000 grant to the New Justice Project MN. 10 The legislation did not make it out of committee. 10
Leadership
Rod Adams is the founder and executive director at New Justice Project MN. 11 Adams has also been involved in political campaigns and has worked as an economic justice organizer for MN Neighborhoods for Change. 12 At the age of 17, Adams was convicted for felony marijuana possession. 13 After spending four days in jail, upon release he skipped a court date and was re-arrested for an active warrant. 14 Adams spent four and a half weeks in jail and has said that his run-ins with the law and the killing of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri were his inspiration to take up left-wing community organizing. 15