NEW YORK - Lit by passing cars and an Apple Store that towers overhead, is an unmarked bus stop in Downtown Brooklyn.

Those waiting are preparing for an overnight trip to visit incarcerated loved ones at prisons upstate. 

Standing alongside them is Soffiyah Elijah.

"My first visit to a prison was when I was 17 years old and at that time, kind of viscerally, I knew not to tell anyone, I never told my family or my friends that my boyfriend went to prison," Elijah said.

Elijah understood she wasn't alone in her feelings. She later went on to work as a criminal defense attorney, where she once again could see up close, the emotional toll the criminal justice process takes on families. Everything from court hearings to prison visits.

"What we know is that families who have incarcerated loved ones are suffering in silence, they don't tell anybody. they don't tell co-workers, they don't tell neighbors, they don't tell fellow parishioners, they just don't tell anyone that they have an incarcerated loved one," Elijah said.

Elijah wanted to change that. In 2016, she founded the non-profit "Alliance of Families for Justice." The organization provides counseling and free legal support to those with family members in prison. 

And on most Friday nights - like a recent frigid one - you'll find Elijah and a group of volunteers at the bus stop, doing outreach — giving out handwarmers and gloves, letting waiting family members know about their services and offering them a space to open up, and know they're not alone.

She has so far helped thousands through her work.

"Ultimately, we are destroying a society, the society we all live in if we are destroying communities, and we're going to destroy communities if we are destroying families because families are the back bone and the fiber of any strong community," Elijah said.

So, for focusing on the families – and giving them comfort during what can be a lonely time, Soffiyah Elijah is our New Yorker of the Week.