On Saturday, January 23rd, more than 150 North Philadelphia community leaders and families with loved ones in prison met at the Philadelphia Recovery Community Center to discuss the services urgently needed to support those returning from imprisonment. And the group was serious about getting to work. Emcee Rev. Dr. McNear, Kingdom Care Reentry Network, was greeted with a chorus of responses to his calls for this not to be just another meeting with no action plan: “Yes, we can!” and “Yes, I will!”
This was the first in a series of Neighborhood Speak Outs organized by a new Philadelphia criminal justice coalition, the Support Center for Prison Advocacy. The Support Center for Prison Advocacy was founded in July 2008 by the Institute for the Study of Civic Values, the Kingdom Care Reentry Network, and Philadelphia FIGHT, working in collaboration with CHAMP’s Project UNSHACKLE.
When someone goes to prison, the whole community is affected. And community struggles do not stop when loved ones come home. Once released, people will face difficulties accessing the services and mentoring they need to move forward and make new lives. The Support Center for Prison Advocacy was founded on the belief that to address this prison reentry crisis, we all need to come together to build safer and more vibrant communities.
“Our city's prison reentry crisis is a community problem. We need to hear the hardships you are facing, so we can work together to support each other and get the services our communities need,” stated emcee Waheedah Shabazz-El, CHAMP.
As a unique community-led, community-inspired effort, the Support Center for Prison Advocacy is actively reaching out to recovery networks, community organizations, faith leaders, block captains, ex-offenders and their families to ensure that the coalition grows in collaboration with the many stakeholders on the issue of prison reentry.
Over the coming months, the Support Center for Prison Advocacy will be organizing additional Neighborhood Speak Outs in South Philadelphia, Frankford, Southwest Philadelphia and Germantown, building a neighborhood-rooted, city-wide coalition. Each Neighborhood Speak Out will further open face-to-face dialogue among people who are formerly imprisoned returning to their communities, faith leaders, and local community leaders, making the space to focus on strategies for strengthening community infrastructure and taking action together to demand the restorative justice that will transform our communities.
We’ll keep you posted as this exciting grassroots work continues to unfold!
Post new comment