猫咪社区

These three activists are working to support people at risk of either going to prison for the first time or returning to prison after release.

Sean Goode
Executive Director
Choose 180

Since it was founded in 2011, the Seattle nonprofit Choose 180 has served more than 2,500 youth accused of a crime with a half-day court diversion program that resulted in having their charges dismissed. 

Sean Goode, who joined the organization in 2017, launched an additional program in local middle and high schools to help students at risk of suspension or expulsion for what is deemed 鈥渋nsubordinate behavior鈥濃�斺�渂asically, being a teenager,鈥� Goode says鈥攇et back on track and develop the skills they need to succeed in school.

Typically, in cases where a student commits an offense that can rise to the level of a felony, the program works with the accused to accommodate victims鈥� needs too, such as having a stolen phone replaced or obtaining therapy for trauma from a violent confrontation, Goode says.

鈥淭hose young people now have access to a restorative path.鈥�

The six-week program currently operates in two high schools and three middle schools, and is expected to expand to four more schools in the coming year. More than 700 students have gone through the in-school program so far. Choose 180 plans to expand the six-week program to four more schools in 2022, building on the direct services already provided to hundreds of students and young adults each year.

Terah Lawyer-Harper
Associate Director
The Homecoming Project, Impact Justice聽

High on the list of obstacles facing formerly incarcerated people is finding housing, with many landlords and leases prohibiting people with criminal backgrounds from renting. That鈥檚 amplified in expensive cities, as in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Impact Justice鈥檚 3-year-old Homecoming Project uses the models of Airbnb and the sharing economy to tap into the Bay Area鈥檚 underutilized housing stock owned by individuals rather than corporate landlords, explains Terah Lawyer-Harper, the project鈥檚 program manager. This includes spare rooms, duplexes, mother-in-law units, and vacation rentals. 

The project subsidizes the owner so a re-entering person can pay an affordable rent. Prospective tenants begin the screening process at least six months before prison release, ensuring transparency with their future landlords. Program participants are guided through a re-entry plan by a community navigator who is also a trauma-informed care practitioner.

鈥淚t is on the host and the participant to choose each other, and I think that鈥檚 what makes our program successful,鈥� Lawyer-Harper says.

So far, the program has housed 65 people in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, with a 0% recidivism rate. The Homecoming Project is laying groundwork to expand to other communities and building a toolkit for other organizations.

Five Mualimm-ak
Executive Director
Incarcerated Nation Network

Five Mualimm-ak served 12 years in prison, five of them in solitary confinement, all the while suffering from untreated mental illnesses.

When he was released, he found few resources to help him, so he resolved to provide them for other young people re-entering society. , his nonprofit organization in New York City, is focused on helping formerly incarcerated youth find treatment for mental illnesses and trauma, stable housing, and mentors and role models to help them reintegrate鈥斺�渁ll things I needed when I came home,鈥� he says. 

The nonprofit operates several programs, including one focused on people re-entering after extended periods of solitary confinement. 鈥淧eople have an immense amount of trauma from that,鈥� Mualimm-ak says. 

The newest initiative, the Youth Anti-Prison Project, works with young adults after incarceration or while out on community supervision, offering education, housing, peer mentoring, and support in accessing social services and other basic needs.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really creating a support base that says, 鈥榃e know our youth,鈥欌�� says Mualimm-ak. 鈥淔or all of our mentors and all of our leaders, this is us when we were young.鈥�

CORRECTION: This article was updated at 4:39 p.m. PT on Feb. 16, 2022, to correct Terah Lawyer-Harper鈥檚 job title.聽Read our corrections policy here.