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End the Trauma to Prison Pipeline

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 Who Speaks for Me?™ ‌Project: Support Dismantling the Trauma-to-Prison Pipeline for Women and Girls™

We are seeking support to help women--we mean all women and femmes (Trans women, gender non-conforming, gender non-binary and Trans men who are justice-involved but are or were held in female  jails and/or prisons)--from Washington, D.C.  and othe states who are incarcerated and those who are returning home from the local jail and federal and state  prisons from around the country.

"We like to think incarcerated women are so different from the general population. But that’s simply not true. I often say: If you want to understand sexism in America, go to a women’s prison."  (from Breaking the Silence about Women in Prison , Vera Institute of Justice)

The Who Speaks for Me? Project has already launched with the help of volunteers, yet with very little funding and supplies. In April 2017 the Sharing Our Stories to Reclaim Our Lives: Understanding the Trauma-to-Prison Pipeline for Females” , Reading and Writing Program began at the D.C. without enough materials. We would like to receive In-Kind Donations,  Immeditely (you can send an email for the address to mail the materials) which can be found on the Wish List on the right or on Amazon for this project (e.g. books, pens, journals, and writing tablets). We ar also ready to be implement this program in other jails and prisons around the country with the help of volunteers. 

Who Speaks for Me?  sponsors Community Forum Panel Discussion and Design Thinking, “Sharing Our Stories to Reclaim Our Lives” in DC other states. These panels include five women who were incarcerated discussing their lives before and during incarceration and their process of reentering their community. All of these women have recently returned home. We would like to offer them an honorarium to go towards: travel costs as they seek employment, job training, attend school or work; purchase clothing and hygiene. 

Our organization has also begun offering  trainings for practitioners who work with justice-involved people. We are also ready to publish an online manual for those who are on the ground providing direct services to women and girls incarcerated and/or returning home. 

We have had some accomplishments. Our website for Who Speaks for Me? has launched and will continue to grow with programs and resources and events locally and nationally.  Who Speaks for Me? has also applied to trademark "Dismantle the Trauma-to-Prison Pipeline for Women and Girls," thanks to a generous donation.

While ending Mass Incarceration has much support in this country, as a justice-involved woman, Taylar Nuevelle, Founder/CEO, of the Who Speaks for Me? Project, quickly learned that women are the fastest growing population of people incarcerated, but the most ignored.  In fact, in the last decade the number of women in jails and prisons in America has quadrupled, but females who are incarcerated are a footnote in the criminal justice reform movement and their struggles are different from their male counterparts.  There is much gender bias, homophobia and transphobia  in the criminal justice reform movement and rarely are the issues and needs of Women In Prison and/or returning home discussed on a large scale. These are some of the reasons why Taylar created the Who Speaks for Me? Project.

All of our paperwork is in order to apply for our 501(c)(3) status, including our board of directors, by-laws, mission statement, Employer Identification Number (EIN) and we have community buy-in. We now have a fiscal sponsor and will be able to apply for funding from foundations and for local and federal grants and be able to put staff in place to begin the Who Speaks for Me? Project in other areas beyond the Washington, D.C. for justice-involved females around the country. However it takes time to apply for and receive funding. 

So please, take a moment and review the materials needed for the program at the jail for women, and consider a financial donation if you are able. Just as importantly, please share this project with your community.

Also, visit the  Who Speaks for Me ?™ ‌
website  page to learn more about our programs and read the recently released reports about trauma and justice-involved women.

Organizer

Taylar Nuevelle
Organizer
Washington D.C., DC

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