<a href="https://welcometocup.org/making-policy-public" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Making Policy Public</a> is CUP’s annual open call that invites advocates to collaborate with CUP and a visual designer to create a resource that empowers communities to assert their rights, access services, and fight for social justice. 
Over the course of a year, project teams work together to break down the project’s focus. Advocates bring their deep knowledge of the issues impacting communities and trusted relationships they’ve built through their work; graphic designers and illustrators bring their visual skills, creativity, and commitment to supporting social justice; CUP staff facilitates a collaborative process that engages directly impacted people and centers accessible, actionable information. Together, we create projects that support justice and equity.
At the end of the project, advocates receive 1,000 free copies of the final project to distribute directly to communities and throughout their networks.
Thank you to all of the organizations and visual designers who applied to our <a href="https://welcometocup.org/news/mpp-2024-open-call" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">open call</a>, and to our <a href="https://welcometocup.org/news/meet-the-jury-for-making-policy-public" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">jurors</a> Ariana Faye Allensworth, Eugenia Mello, Daniel Chu, and Mayra Aldas Deckert for supporting our selection process.
Scroll below to read about our Making Policy Public partners!

The New York City Community Land Initiative (NYCCLI) is a citywide alliance working to advance community land trusts (CLTs) to address root causes of homelessness and displacement. NYCCLI members include grassroots, affordable housing, and economic and environmental justice groups organizing for deeply- and permanently-affordable housing, commercial and community spaces, and other neighborhood-led development. Launched in 2012, NYCCLI has fostered the growth of more than 20 CLTs working to bring land and housing into community ownership. NYCCLI engages thousands of New Yorkers each year in community education, organizing, planning, policy advocacy and other initiatives to build a broad movement for CLTs as vehicles to stabilize housing, promote self-determination, and build lasting community wealth.
<a href="https://nyccli.org/">Click here to learn more about the New York City Community Land Initiative.</a>

New York City Community Land Initiative

Housing Court Answers is a New York City-based nonprofit organization dedicated to helping tenants navigate the complexities of housing court. We educate tenants on their rights and support them in preventing evictions by providing guidance on using the court system to compel landlords to make repairs, and connecting tenants to resources for rent arrears, legal assistance, and the broader housing justice movement.
<a href="https://housingcourtanswers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Click here to learn more about Housing Court Answers.</a>

Housing Court Answers

The Center for Justice Innovation is a community justice organization that centers safety and racial justice. Since our founding in 1996, the Center has partnered with community members, courts, and the people most impacted to create stronger, healthier, more just communities. Our decades of experience in courts and communities, coupled with our field-leading research and practitioner expertise, help us drive justice nationwide in innovative, powerful, and durable ways.
<a href="http://www.innovatingiustice.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Click here to learn more about the Center for Justice Innovation.</a>

Center for Justice Innovation

TakeRoot Justice provides legal, participatory research and policy support to strengthen the work of grassroots and community-based groups in New York City to dismantle racial, economic, and social oppression. TakeRoot Justice began in 2001 as the Community Development Project at the Urban Justice Center. After 18 years of work supporting grassroots community organizing in New York City, they launched as an independent organization and took on the name TakeRoot Justice.
<a href="https://takerootjustice.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Click here to learn more about TakeRoot Justice.</a>

TakeRoot Justice

The Door is an unparalleled model for youth development, offering a comprehensive range of integrated services for up to 11,000 New York City youth annually across our four New York City locations: our lower Manhattan and South Bronx youth centers and two supportive housing sites on the Lower East Side. At The Door, youth can access health care and education, mental health counseling and crisis assistance, legal assistance, high school equivalency and college preparation services, career development, housing supports, arts, recreational activities, and nutritious meals.
The Door’s Legal Services Center provides cutting-edge advocacy to young people ages 12 to 24. Established in 1992 to address the lack of free legal assistance for youth in New York City, the center addresses the civil legal needs of our clients, including immigration, foster care, housing, and public benefits, among others.
<a href="http://www.door.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Click here to learn more about The Door.</a>

The Door

WE ACT was started in 1988 when three fearless community leaders saw that environmental racism was rampant in their West Harlem neighborhood, and they demanded community-driven, political change. Today, the organization has grown to over 46 staff members in its New York City headquarters and Federal Policy Office in Washington, D.C., and is considered one of the leading voices in the national Environmental Justice Movement. WE ACT’s mission is to build health communities by ensuring that people of color and/or low income residents participate meaningfully in the creation of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices. 
WE ACT envisions a community that has informed and engaged residents who participate fully in decision-making on key issues that impact their health and community, strong and equal environmental protections, and increased environmental health through community-based participatory research and evidence-based campaigns
<a href="https://www.weact.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Click here to learn more about WE ACT.</a>

WE ACT for Environmental Justice

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Announcing Our 2025 Making Policy Public Projects

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Hyperakt is a purpose-driven design and innovation studio that elevates human dignity and ignites curiosity. Since 2001, co-founders Julia Zeltser and Deroy Peraza, along with the Hyperakt team, have been partnering with change-makers moving society forward. We believe in design’s power to build a future filled with courage, optimism, and honesty.

Hyperakt

The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) is a nonprofit organization that uses the power of design and art to increase meaningful civic engagement in partnership with historically marginalized communities.

Center for Urban Pedagogy

CUP uses the power of design and art to increase meaningful civic engagement, in partnership with historically marginalized communities.

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