New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams announced Mark Winston Griffith, former founding Executive Director of the Brooklyn Movement Center, as his appointment to the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), the nation’s largest independent police oversight entity.
"Mark Winston Griffith has dedicated his career to strengthening our communities and pushing for accountability and transparency from the systems that are meant to protect us," said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams. "The CCRB aims to be a watchdog for our law enforcement, and Mark’s background in combatting discriminatory policing and leading conversations on safety rooted in dignity provides a critical perspective. I’m proud to appoint him to the board and know he’ll use his voice to advance equity and justice for our city."
Mark Winston Griffith is a veteran community organizer and journalist with more than 40 years of social justice and journalism experience. He is currently the Co-Executive Director of Free Speech TV, a 24/7 television news and commentary network.
"Like any formation of its kind, CCRB is imperfect, but it is uniquely positioned to enable the public ‘village’ to weigh in on matters of equal justice and accountability, values I have fought for my entire life," said Mark Winston Griffith. "Community safety and earned trust in law enforcement are two sides of the same coin. While serving on the CCRB, I will work with the utmost integrity to advance a culture of respect and fairness among civilians and police officers alike."
"Mark Winston Griffith has long contributed to the community through his work as a journalist and organizer, and he will be a welcome thought partner on our Board," said CCRB Interim Chair Sherene Crawford. "I look forward to working alongside him."
This is the second appointment to the oversight body by a Public Advocate since the board's inception in 1993, following a 2019 City Charter revision which gave the Office of Public Advocate an appointment to the entity.
Under the charter amendment, which was overwhelmingly approved by voters in November 2019, the Public Advocate is required to designate an appointee to the fifteen member board. Public Advocate Williams, who has a long history of working for better policing and fighting to improve transparency and accountability, was strongly supportive of the amendment.
From 2011 to 2022, Mark was the founding Executive Director of the Brooklyn Movement Center, a Black community self-determination organization that led grassroots issue campaigns including police accountability, education, community safety, food sovereignty, and climate change. As Executive Director he served on the leadership teams of Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) and the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA). He was a co-founder of the Black Freedom Project (NFP) and the Central Brooklyn Food Coop (CBFC), and is currently on the CBFC’s board of directors.
Mark is the founding Executive Editor of Brooklyn Deep, a community-based citizen journalism platform for which he won the 2022 David Prize. He was the co-host and co-producer of the NPR limited series podcast, School Colors, which examined race, class and power in American cities and schools.
In the early nineties, Mark co-founded the Central Brooklyn Federal Credit Union, which was at the time the largest Black financial cooperative of its kind. Mark has taught economic development at Pratt Institute, urban reporting at CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, and community organizing at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies. He sits on the boards of the news site, The City Reporter; the Black literary journal, Callaloo; and writes on culture and politics for the Amsterdam News. He is currently writing a people’s history of Communities for Police Reform. Mark is Jamaican-American and a third-generation Crown Heights resident.