Building a world where everyone has what they need to thrive.
The Center for Community Alternatives (CCA), founded in 1981, is a leader in community-based alternatives to incarceration and policy advocacy to reduce reliance on incarceration. We provide direct services to communities in New York City, Syracuse, and Rochester, engaging approximately 3,500 youth and adults annually who would otherwise be incarcerated.
Services include gender-based substance treatment and recovery communities, sentence mitigation, court advocacy, workforce readiness, civic restoration services, emergency/transitional housing, student advocacy, violence prevention, and youth mentoring as well as afterschool programming and career exploration for justice-involved youth. The majority of our participants are Black or Latino/a and come from poor or low-income communities.