Isaiah truly is an advocate for urban community change in a way that has never been done before and will modify the way research approached moving forward.
Born and raised in Newark, New Jersey and spending his young adult years in Crown Heights, Brooklyn ; Isaiah is no stranger to the difficulties and adversity his community as well as himself faced. Isaiah Spate joined the Center for Court and Innovation (CCI) in 2012 as a Violence Interrupter for the cure violence in NYC and worked that position for 5 years . As a member of SOS (Save our Streets) , Isaiah organized mediations that stopped potential retaliations across the SOS Crown Heights catchment area. With his success in this role he was able to advance as to the CCI Research and Policy Department. Currently, Isaiah is CCI’s centers community based research coordinator on firearms and gang involved projects across NYC and now covering five additional states as well.
Photos by Sequoyah Daniel