The Open Society Institute's U.S. Programs aims to address the core threats to open society in America today. These threats include increasingly punitive national security, criminal justice, and immigration policies; decreasing transparency and accountability in government; entrenched structural racism; enduring inequality; massive and growing rates of incarceration; and the eroding image of the United States in the world.

OSI envisions a society that allows all people to participate actively and equitably in political, economic, and cultural life; encourages diverse opinions and critical debate on public issues; protects fundamental human rights, dignity, and the rule of law; and promotes broadly shared prosperity and human security.

Together with its grantees and partners, U.S. Programs seeks to dismantle structures and policies that perpetuate exclusion—whether they are felon disfranchisement laws that deny the right to vote to one in three African American men, zero-tolerance rules that force children out of school, immigration policies that punish rather than reward the hard work of new Americans, criminal justice policies that lock up over two million people at a time, overly broad national security laws that make it a crime for Muslims to practice their faith by giving money to charity, or economic policies that deny all low-wage workers a chance.

U.S. Programs invests in the capacity of organizations to work for long-term social change through policy reform and shifting public debate. Its initiatives support progressive immigration and national security policies, innovative reentry programs and alternatives to incarceration, structural election reform to ensure that every vote counts, fellowships and public education that encourage critical thinking, and economic policies that give everyone a fair chance. By promoting transparency, OSI enables and empowers more Americans to become informed participants in our society. Holding the government accountable for its failures and abuses will help to heal the damage to vital institutions and restore public confidence in the ability of government to provide for the common good.

U.S. Programs’ funding initiatives are designed to capture the sense of urgency and optimism that OSI grantees bring to the formidable challenges to open society in America today. We rely on the leadership and partnership of our grantees and other experts as we work together to achieve a fair and just America.

U.S. Programs operates out of OSI-New York, with OSI-Baltimore as its field office. Visit the OSI-Baltimore website.

In addition, OSI operates a Washington, D.C., office that.focuses on addressing violations of civil liberties in the United States; expanding OSI’s policy and advocacy work in the areas of criminal and civil justice reform; and building a framework to influence debates over global economic policies, such as those involving international development assistance. Visit the OSI-Washington, D.C., website.

View or download a chart (PDF) outlining the structure of U.S. Programs.