About Us

As AJC

“Our success in the past has been running through the door that is cracked and breaking it open.”

Our Vision

AJC serves people who are historically and systematically impacted by gentrification, segregation, over policing, a lack of educational and employment opportunities, and other institutional forms of racism in Austin.

Mission

AJC is a Black-led organization that elevates lived experience, builds leadership, organizes, advocates, celebrates Black culture, and mobilizes people to boldly fight racist systems through a Black, queer, feminist, abolitionist lens.

Our Story

“We understand that change comes in many forms, and we are strong proponents of coalition building.”

Austin Justice Coalition (AJC) is a community organization that focuses on improving the quality of life for people who are Black, Brown, and poor. AJC’s strategy continues to create direct and indirect impact in communities of color by influencing changes in local government and advocating for policy reform. This strategy builds on AJC’s experience and knowledge from its work thus far.

March 15, 2015

Founded in 2015

When Austin Justice Coalition (AJC) was founded in 2015, Austin had the highest per capita rate of police shootings in Texas

March 15, 2015

January 1, 2016

Better Before More Campaign Launched

One year later – in response to the Police Department’s request for $13 million to hire more officers – AJC launched the Better Before More campaign.

January 1, 2016

August 8, 2019

Penned an op-ed in the New York Times

Chas Moore and Sukyi McMahon, Executive Director and AJC Board Chair at the time. Click to read the article

August 8, 2019

2016-2020

Highlights

  1. End to Class C Misdemeanor Arrests
  2. Rewritten Body Cam Policy
  3. Negotiated Use of Force Policy
  4. De-escalation Policy
  5. Leading organization for pushing a truly separate Office of Police Oversight that allowed:
    1. Complaints against the APD accepted online.
    2. No statute of limitations for investigations.
    3. Public recommendations on APD incidents.
    4. APD chief obligated to respond in writing…
2016-2020

2020

Financial

Until 2020, Austin Justice Coalition was fiscally sponsored by the Texas Fair Defense Project. Click  to view our first 990 for the year 2020 and check back for our 2021 990 or review our profile on Guidestar here .

2020

December 20, 2020

Toolkit Developed

AJC developed a toolkit for organizers working on police reform to leverage the police union contract process and provided training to community members on city budgeting processes. Click to view our toolkit

December 20, 2020

Impacts

AJC believes in leveraging our many skills and passions to move the needle on issues of racial justice. Here are some of our most outstanding impacts

June 7, 2020 - Over 15,000 attend AJC’s largest march called, “Justice for Them All”. Black Austin Rally and March for Black Lives

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