Inspire hope with the New Hope Initiative

Have you ever sat down and asked yourself what you think about those in prison?  About the ex-felons walking, working, and living among you that have served their debt to society?  Not what the media or government programs have to say, but your real, personal opinion.  How you truly feel about them in your heart, aside from the deceptively vilifying picture the media paints, creating the unfair stigma that once incarcerated they have nothing to offer and no longer deserve a role in society.  Do you see them as human beings with feelings and dreams?  People who have made mistakes and deserve a chance to change?  Can you find it in you to see them as individuals who, if shown a little bit of love, support, and direction may just turn out to possess great potential?  Or, do you sadly view them through the same eyes that tear apart their lives, deeming them as unworthy individuals that will never amount to anything and should be exiled from the “normal” population of America?

Regardless of how you have answered that question, your answer applies to the very people that created everything you are about to see in this campaign.

New Hope Initiative was birthed when a prisoner realized that America’s version of justice had become a system of injustice that only traps the felon in a revolving door of recidivism built to support and strengthen the prison industrial complex, and decided to do something about it.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “To cooperate passively with an unjust system makes the oppressed as evil as the oppressor…We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.” This prisoner decided to heed those words.

So, isn’t it time that we as individuals and as a nation, realize that in order for a felon or prisoner to become the upstanding citizen they are expected to be, they have to be treated like the person they are and afforded the help, care, and encouragement needed to become that?  If you take away all the factors that led a felon to reoffend or a criminal to commit crimes and you give them all the tools, keys, and essentials they need to step out of that destructive pattern and into a life of purpose, what happens?

Isn’t it time that we all come together in one accord to fix the crumbling justice system and give our incarcerated men and women and all the struggling ex-felons a true, lasting hope to become contributing members of the community?

We the felons and our families who are behind the scenes constructing and promoting this Initiative, hope that as you read and listen to these testimonials, keeping in tune as we continue to post more of our story and our plans and progress, that you would be moved in your heart to support New Hope as you see the incredible impact this Initiative will have on the nation, your community, yourself, and your loved ones.

We hope that we can welcome you into the New Hope Family, as we begin to rebuild the injustice system into what it was designed to be: a system of rehabilitation and repair, restoration and rebirth, taking the initiative to begin delivering hope to the hopeless.