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ANWOL

After jail, Selena finds herself “at the right place doing the right thing”

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This blog post is first in our series on the 48,000 obstacles to re-entry formerly incarcerated people face when they return to society.

As formerly incarcerated women try to reclaim their lives and their families, their quest for stability is jeopardized by tens of thousands of collateral consequences as a result of their incarceration. These barriers to reentry can be very discouraging to those who have been recently released from prison and are eager to embrace their newfound freedom. Selena, a new resident to at A New Way of Life (ANWOL), hasn’t allowed the obstacles she’s faced during her reintegration to throw her off track from achieving the goals she has set for her life.

Selena’s journey to reentry began less than a year ago when she was faced with a decision about where she would go upon her release from county jail.

“My cycle of incarceration started when I was 20 years old. I was in and out of the county jail for about a year until I finally caught a case for burglary; they gave me six months for it. That was the biggest case that I’d ever got, and it’s put me on probation for three years.

“I was struggling in between going back to my area, going to the hood, or going to a land that I never met, which was soberness and recovery homes. I wasn’t familiar with that, so it was really hard for me.”

Before coming to ANWOL, Selena, now 22 years old, had a few false starts as she struggled to find a stable living environment. There was too much temptation to engage in old behaviors while living with her grandmother and when she began drinking again, she was kicked out Shields for Families due to a DUI. Selena did not allow these instances to discourage her from trying to make a better life for herself and her son.

“I had to really grasp that I was out and that I wanted something new. I did not want to go back in. Because I remember being in jail and asking God, ‘Please get me out, help me.’”

She then joined Alcoholic Center for Women, where her counselor in the program directed her to ANWOL. Since coming to ANWOL, Selena experienced stability for the first time in her life and is learning not to let her past define her.

“ANWOL has shown me that there are so many opportunities in life. They motivate me to be a mom and fight for my rights. They’ve taught me that yeah, my past is my past, but I don’t have to wear it every day. I don’t have to be that person every day, and that’s a big thing for me.”

Through her participation in ANWOL, Selena has gotten involved with Women Organizing for Justice (WOJO). WOJO is a six-month training program that fosters critical analysis of the criminal justice system, teaches the history of civil rights movements, identifies barriers to social justice and provides advocacy opportunities to affect policy and systems change.  Selena graduates from the cohort in April.

Her involvement in WOJO has been an enormous help on her journey.

“My mom used drugs my whole life, so I didn’t really have a family, and I had to fend for myself. The women of WOJO have guided and supported me like how a mother nurtures a child. I am becoming who I am because of all that they are teaching me.” 

Selena also  joined All of Us or None, a grassroots organization that works to restore the human rights of formerly incarcerated people and those still incarcerated, which taught her about “Ban the Box” and her right to vote. She is now confidently applying for jobs and is excited to vote for the first time in the upcoming primaries.

Selena has not allowed her probation to cripple her, and in addition to regaining custody of her 4-year-old son, she is now confidently applying for jobs and plans to attend college so that she can eventually begin a career as a drug counselor. She graduates from Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center with her GED in June.

“I feel like there was a reason why I struggled in and out of using. I went through such a hard time because God wanted me to leave that area of my life and the experiences that I went through so that I could help somebody else.”

Even though Selena struggled during the first few months to stay sober, her faith, ANWOL, and her involvement in programs like WOJO and AOUON has kept her motivated throughout her reentry journey. Her eyes are now open to life’s opportunities, and she is determined more than ever before to stay focused. She fought for her sobriety and continues to fight every day.

“I try to be as involved in programs as much as I can now because it motivates me and it reminds me that I’m at the right place doing the right thing.”

 

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ANWOL Resident Veronica Is Discharged from Probation

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As noted in a report by the Vera Institute of Justice and the Safety and Justice Challenge, “Women often become involved with the justice system as a result of efforts to cope with life challenges such as poverty, unemployment, and significant physical or behavioral health struggles, including those related to past histories of trauma, mental illness, or substance use.”

This rings true for many of the women who transition through A New Way of Life Re-Entry Project (ANWOL). Veronica, an ANWOL resident who recently discharged from probation, credits the organization as giving her the safe space needed to reach her goals.

“Safe spaces are important because if I’m worried about my basic needs, like food and shelter, then I cannot concentrate on myself or succeeding and moving forward and doing something for myself. If you’re always worried about survival then you can’t live.”

Prior to ANWOL, Veronica had never experienced a stable living situation. As the daughter of a drug addicted mother, Veronica’s life was riddled with trauma, including sexual abuse, from its very beginning. At the age of 15, Veronica entered a marriage with the hope that she was moving to a better situation for her life. Soon after her marriage, she found herself living in a nightmare.

“I married a very, very abusive man. During the course of 20 years, he beat me unmercifully. During that time, we were selling drugs and robbing people. It was just anything for him, and anything he said, I had to do.”

One night, her husband shot her in the ankle, and now she suffers a lifelong disability.

As she cycled in and out of prison, Veronica realized that she truly wanted a meaningful future.

“The revelation hit me about eight months before I was scheduled to go home. A lady inside asked me, ‘if you died today, who would show up to your funeral and what would they say?’ I couldn’t pick five people on my hand that would show up… That was the worst feeling in the world for me. But then it’s like ‘Get off the pot – what are you going to do?’”

Following this revelation, Veronica began doing research and looking for opportunities post release.

“I knew I couldn’t do this by myself or with the same mentality and the same people. You can’t do the same thing and expect that it’s going to be different.”

Now, for the first time since she was a teenager, she is not under any mandatory supervision.

“I knew how to live in society, but I was living for the next day. But now I could live and kind of plan a little bit for a future and I was never able to do that before. I had to live in the moment; I was surviving. I was never living, and now I finally have a chance to live.”

With her newfound freedom, Veronica realizes she deserves to embrace and live a happy life.

“My motivation is different now – it’s not for anyone, it’s finally for me. I’m trying to build my relationship with my daughter again. My daughter is 24 years old and she doesn’t know her mother. I’m trying to build a relationship with me again, like ‘Who are you? Who am I?’”

Veronica is currently a dispatcher for a construction company and hopes to one day open a battered women’s shelter that will cater to both women and their children.

“Life is exciting to me at almost 50. It takes some longer than others I guess, but I’ve got it.”

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Another Election Year

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Another Election Year

 

“We used to say that ours is not the struggle of one day, one week, or one year. Ours is not the struggle of one judicial appointment or presidential term. Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes, and each one of us in every generation must do our part. And if we believe in the change we seek, then it is easy to commit to doing all we can, because the responsibility is ours alone to build a better society and a more peaceful world.” 

-John Lewis, “Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America”

Congressman John Lewis is one of the young men that led the Selma to Montgomery marches of 1965, contributing to the passage of the Voting Rights Act which would enable African American citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote without discrimination.

The series of marches consisted of thousands of civil rights activists and religious leaders who were fighting the discrimination and voter suppression tactics taking place in the segregated South. These brave men and women mobilized to reach their goal of ensuring that we all would be able to make our voices heard in elections.

Unfortunately, the U.S. system of mass incarceration has significantly undermined those very same voting rights.

Today, the population of incarcerated African Americans is grossly disproportionate to their overall population in the country. Because of the removal of most civil rights, including voting rights in many states, there are about 6.1 million people who cannot vote, with 1 in every 13 adult African Americans permanently banned from voting. This fact has made room for the dominant group in society to once again cripple African American voices and political input in this country.

This year A New Way of Life Re-Entry Project (ANWOL) is expanding their voter registration efforts to include those who are newly eligible to vote. The passage of Assembly Bill 2466 in 2016 has made it possible for men and women serving time for a felony conviction in county jails to now make their voices heard through voting.

The passage of this bill comes decades after men and women serving time in jail were denied the opportunity to exercise their right to vote and it’s a great start at tackling the laws that disenfranchise far too many citizens of this country.

With impending elections in June and November, the Voter In-Reach project of ANWOL will begin soon where we will visit county jails to conduct voter registration for those who are eligible.

ANWOL staff and All of Us or None (AOUON) members have submitted applications to the Sheriff’s Department to go inside of the jails for the purpose of registering voters. Once clearance is obtained, we will begin sending staff and volunteers inside to register people to vote and to conduct voter education.

Ingrid Archie with Prop. 64 canvassers. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Staff members of ANWOL are looking forward to spreading awareness to the men and women in jails about their right to vote.

“It’s very important. There are tens of thousands of people in the state of California who are disenfranchised simply because they do not know that they have the right to vote even when they are incarcerated,” explains Rev. Larry Foy, ANWOL Policy & Advocacy Director. “The only thing that should legally prevent people with convictions from voting in California is if they are on parole or serving time in state or federal prison.”

The goal of the project is not only to let incarcerated individuals understand that they can vote, but to also let them know that their vote is important. The volunteers will educate the men and women on the policies and politicians on the ballots so that people serving time in jail or awaiting trial will have a deeper understanding on the key issues that may affect their lives.

“Politicians travel to areas where people have a higher propensity to vote. They go to those areas and speak to their needs. There’s a whole constituency of people who are incarcerated that are eligible to vote,” said Ingrid Archie, ANWOL Civic Engagement Coordinator. “We want to maximize the number of incarcerated people who are voting so people will recognize that

incarcerated men and women do vote. Their votes have the potential to turn a whole vote or even flip a seat and once people see the power of the votes of incarcerated men and women they will realize that they need to visit jails to solicit those votes as well.”

Some people of color do not feel that their votes matter in elections or that the outcome of policies will affect them directly. That was the case for Ed Garrett, ANWOL’s technology consultant. “I didn’t think about my vote being important because my life was in the streets,” said Ed. “But you find out when you get into an institutional environment that all of the things that happen, happen because somebody voted and made a decision.”

Community organizations working on civil rights must continue the movement to mobilize for changes to voting laws that have continuously chipped away at that great victory in 1965.

Susan Burton & AOUON members marching in the 50th anniversary of the Selma Montgomery marches of 1965.

Throughout the next few months, voter registration training will take place for the specific purpose of training those who will be registering men and women in jails. If you are interested in participating please contact Ingrid Archie at 323.563.3575.

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All of Us Or None Year End Celebration

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All of Us Or None Year End Celebration

 

The All of Us or None year end gathering was a time for members of the Los Angeles and Long Beach chapters to come together for a meal and to celebrate the many struggles and accomplishments of 2017.

All of US or None (AOUON) is a national organizing effort to center and grow the voices of formerly incarcerated and convicted people and their loved ones in the fight to end mass incarceration. The national, grassroots, civil rights movement was founded by a group of formerly incarcerated people, including A New Way of Life founder Susan Burton in the early 2000s. Ms. Burton continues to chair the LA County chapters of AOUON, and ANWOL collaborates closely with the other chapters across California.

This final meeting of the year sparked a new tradition where the local All of Us or None chapters could come together to reflect on successes and highlight some of the individuals that always show up and contribute to the work. Whether it’s registering voters, making phone calls to City Hall, or coming to the Board of Supervisors meetings, these are community members going above and beyond to do their part to end mass incarceration and the inhumane treatment of our incarcerated loved ones. During the meeting certificates of appreciation were awarded to some of the most outstanding members of the Long Beach and Los Angeles chapters.

AOUON members receiving certificates
AOUON members receiving certificates

“The end of year celebration was an opportunity for us to highlight and recap the efforts of our student organization,” said Tanu, member of the Long Beach chapter. “It was also inspiring to hear about the work of so many others involved with building this movement and to also put faces to the names.”

In addition to the certificates, members shared success stories and updates were given on the organizations current campaigns like, bail reform and Assembly Bill 535, which restores the right to serve on a jury to people with convictions. ANWOL brought dozens of gifts that were distributed via a raffle. Delicious food was catered by Revolutionario North African Tacos and generously underwritten by Adam Vine of Cage-Free Cannabis.

“I feel that we should continue this on for the years to come,” said Ingrid Archie, ANWOL staff and Prop 47 Advocate. “With such a steep hill to climb to overcome those 4,800 state barriers and 48,000 federal barriers to reentry, it’s important that we reflect on our successes and recognize all of the hard work that our members do throughout the year.”

The meeting, which had opened with the All of US Or None pledge, which speaks to a deep commitment to second chances and supporting and loving each other, each and every one of us, ended with one of the great call and responses of the current struggle for justice and human rights, “All of Us?” Ms. Burton called out, “Or None!” the crowd roared.

The Los Angeles chapter of All of US or None meets at 5:30 pm the 2nd Tuesday of every month at Watts Labor Community Action Committee, 10950 S. Central Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90059. The Long Beach chapter meets the 2nd Thursday of every month at Building Health Communities, 920 Atlantic Ave. Suite 101, Long Beach, CA 90813.

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First Christmas in 32 Years

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First Christmas in 32 Years

 

Holidays at A New Way of Life (ANWOL) are always special for our women and their children. This Christmas, Ms. Mattie, ANWOL’s newest resident, is able to experience the holiday beyond the walls of prison. She is one of the many women who thought they would spend the rest of their life behind bars.

Ms. Mattie, who was released from prison just last week, says that freedom is her gift this holiday season.

The stories that she heard about what life is like for those trying to reintegrate into society made her a little apprehensive about leaving prison.

“I really didn’t know what to expect because you hear all kinds of different stories about how it’s worse than being in prison,” said Mattie. “Then you think, ‘Well, why would I want to go home if I’m going to be more locked down than I am here.’”

When Ms. Mattie arrived to her new home at ANWOL, she was greeted by warm smiles and familiar faces.  When she saw some of the women that she served time with in prison she was overcome with emotion and filled with optimism about her new journey.

“I walked in the door and they all jumped up and started saying, ‘Aww Mattie! Mattie!’ and that made my heart so full,” explains Mattie.

The excitement and warmth that she was experiencing from her new ANWOL family carried into the next day when Mattie attended her first All of Us or None Meeting. Ms. Burton introduced Mattie to the organization and the members welcomed her with open arms and applause.

This meeting was the organization’s end of the year gathering where they celebrated the accomplishments of the year and handed out certificates of appreciation to some of the leaders of the Long Beach and Los Angeles chapters.

Gifts were also passed out at the meeting via a raffle. Mattie’s number was the 4th ticket to be called.

“I went up there and Ingrid handed me this big gift and said ‘this is a beautiful gift’ and I said ‘just being here is a beautiful gift for me.’”

Mattie (right) receiving a gift from Ingrid (left)

As other numbers were called, many of the other members that went to retrieve their gift, then gave it to Mattie.

“I can’t even describe how it felt. These people didn’t even know me, but they made me feel like I was one of them and a part of them,” explains Mattie.

In prison, Christmas is just another day for the women. Directors of ANWOL recognize and understand this and make sure that the women in their homes are able to celebrate the holiday. Every year, ANWOL residents and their children are able to create a wish list of items that they would like for Christmas. The gifts on their lists are donated by organizations such as Women of Compassion, Park Windsor, and Lincoln Memorial.

Ms. Mattie received everything she placed on her list, but the ultimate gift she’s getting this year is the love and support to spend the holiday with her son after being away for 32 years.

“This Christmas I have so much to be thankful for. I don’t try to look backwards because that time is over and I can only look forward to the future,” said Mattie. “I have people that are showing me that even though I spent all that time in prison that there’s still good in the world. There are still people that care and are willing to be there for you if you need them. This is such a blessed Christmas for me.”

All of Us or None members

This Christmas please remember your incarcerated loved ones. Your outreach could be just the encouragement they need to push through another holiday season away from home.

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The Distribution Center Aids Puerto Rico

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The Distribution Center Aids Puerto Rico

 

On Tuesday, December 13, staff and volunteers of A New Way of Life’s (ANWOL) Household Goods Distribution Center loaded a 18-wheeler truck with items to donate to the families in Puerto Rico that were devastated by hurricanes Irma and Maria. The island continues to experience a humanitarian crisis and is in desperate need for resources and supplies.

Staff and volunteers of the Distribution Center

It is no surprise that this program would come to the aid of the thousands of families experiencing loss following the hurricanes. The Household Goods Distribution Center, one of ANWOL’s many programs, has a history of providing essential goods and supplies to those who are in need of basic necessities so that they can begin again.

“I was really excited when I found out that we would be donating items. My crew and staff members were anxious to pitch in and prepare the items to be sent out,” said Linda, the Distribution Center Lead Coordinator.

Linda, the Distribution Center Lead Coordinator

Each day the center helps furnish the new homes of individuals who are formerly incarcerated or who are working to recover from homelessness.  The center receives regular donations of high quality goods from retailers like Bed, Bath, & Beyond. Regular items include vacuums, toasters, lamps, space heaters, trash cans, pots, pans and more.

A few of the organizations that frequent the center are the Department of Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Homeboy’s Industry, Volunteers of America Greater Los Angeles, and the Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC).

Volunteers of ANWOL play an active role in transporting, stocking and distributing items through an organized, cost effective and well-managed operation.

The donated items to Puerto Rico consist of bedding materials such as pillows, blankets, air mattresses, mattress pads, and memory foam mattresses. Baby items like high chairs, play pens, swings and more were also donated.

“It felt great to reach out and touch people in Puerto Rico from where I’m at in L.A.,” said Rodney, Distribution Center Coordinator.  “Sometimes you feel like, ‘What can I do?,’ so for that to happen right here at my job was a touching thing.”

As the island continues to recover from the disaster ANWOL is proud to be able to help families across the country in need of relief.

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