At A Glance
What: A small cohort of women in re-entry work together for several months to develop and execute an arts-based advocacy campaign directly addressing issues affecting their lives. Together, they build leadership skills and prepare for a healthy and supported transition to life after incarceration.
Why: The criminal legal system reduces people to their criminal record. The Fellowship places people in re-entry as experts at the center of the conversation, and creates a channel for them to work with system stakeholders in a holistic, collaborative approach to reforming the justice system.
Who: Women returning from incarceration, teaching artists, and criminal justice system stakeholders like social service providers, lawyers, judges and public safety officials.
How: The Fellows run free expungement clinics, co-lead workshops, host gatherings, and much more. They also create resumes, grow their professional/social network, improve public speaking and interview skills, and set short- and long-term personal goals that are tracked throughout and after the cycle.
FORM / REFORM Women in Re-entry Day 2019
In 2019, PPC Fellows planned Women in Re-entry Day, an arts-based advocacy event that uses original artwork to free women in time for Mother’s Day and educate and organize hundreds of women citywide.
And Women in Re-entry Day works! In 2019, the Fellows raised over $15,000 with their artwork alone to bail out mothers. And due to the enormous turnout for PPC’s Women In Re-entry Day symposium, the ACLU and Community Legal Services decided to reconvene a committee to advance policy supporting women in reentry.
Watch the story here:
Video by Wren René
Making Art for Advocacy
We make media campaigns that destroy stereotypes about women in reentry. The People’s Paper Co-op works together to use art to advocate for the rights and futures of women across the city. You can see some of their amazing art below.
