The incarceration of women and girls in the US has disrupted the fabric of our communities in a way that permeates destructively through generations. According to statistics published by The Sentencing Project, the incarceration of women has increased by 585% since 1980. The societal implications of the incarceration of women become even more harrowing with the knowledge that over 62% of women currently held in US prisons and over 80% of those held in jails are mothers and primary caregivers. The incarceration of a parent is classified as an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE), a trauma which significantly increases the risk of a child ending up experiencing incarceration in their own lifetime. The impact of the incarceration of women paints a bleak picture of our society that cannot go ignored. But just as trauma has a resounding intergenerational impact, so does healing.
To challenge the destructive impact of mass incarceration, we must directly and urgently invest in the collective healing of our mothers, sisters, daughters, and friends.
My name is Grace Ortez, and for over a decade I have been serving my community as an advocate for the incarcerated and their loved ones. Alongside a powerful, experienced, and deeply dedicated group of fellow advocates, directly-impacted leaders, community healers, some from All Kings, Women Within and Outside Circles, I am seeking monetary contributions in our initial stage of building a nonprofit organization which aims to bring a trauma-informed and peer-led community healing modality to women impacted by trauma and the widespread systemic harms of mass incarceration.
We need your help to bring our transformative vision to life! We are seeking funds to help us launch a sisterhood of healing that holds the potential of disrupting the chain of intergenerational incarceration. The core group of advocates developing this project are currently doing so on a volunteer basis; 100% of funds collected through this fundraiser will be utilized to cover travel and other logistical expenses necessary for us to develop this initiative. Additionally, we are calling upon our community networks to support our efforts through connecting us with opportunities for grants, donors, and any other funding sources you may be connected to that would make it possible to bring this healing community to the lives of those who need it.
Please take a moment to learn about the resounding success of a similar model in All Kings in their recent feature in The New York Times "Where Can Men Go to Become Better Men?"
For more on All Kings, please visit https://www.allkings.org/
*Please* share this fundraiser with your networks and encourage others to do so as well to help us get the word out far and wide!
With love, solidarity, and tremendous gratitude,
Grace Ortez