Amy Crawford

As the Director of Strategic Partnerships, Amy Crawford (she/her/hers) will oversee the Development Department and provide strategic advice and leadership to the organization in order to maximize impact, increase support, and elevate the innovative justice reform work of Bronx Defenders. Previously, Amy was the Deputy Director of the National Network for Safe Communities at John Jay College, where she worked with jurisdictions throughout the United States and internationally to improve public safety and strengthen communities. As the Deputy Director, she oversaw the implementation and innovations of strategies to reduce violence, minimize arrest and incarceration, enhance legitimacy, and build relationships between law enforcement and communities. She was also responsible for the organization's strategic planning, external relations, fundraising and overall operations. She has presented at numerous conferences and panel discussions on a wide array of criminal justice reform issues, including strategies and lessons from the field for building community trust and legitimacy, violence prevention, and prosecutorial reform. Amy also was also part of the team that launched the National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice and the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution at John Jay. Previously, Amy was the Deputy Director at the Center for an Urban Future, a public policy organization focusing on economic and workforce development; Amy grew CUF’s programmatic work, built new strategic partnerships and expanded the impact of policy recommendations with funders, civic organizations, and government officials. Amy is excited to return to the Bronx Defenders where she previously spent 8 years as an Equal Justice Works fellow, staff attorney and ultimately, leading the organization’s development and pro bono efforts until she left in 2010. Amy also served as a pro se law clerk for the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and a litigation associate at O’Melveny & Myers. Ms. Crawford holds a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from the University of Virginia.