Support for DC's Previously Incarcerated Youth

Greetings from the Free Minds Community! Since our last report, we have some exciting news here at Free Minds headquarters, including lots of graduations! Members graduated from our Peer Support Program and Job Readiness and Life Skills Apprenticeship, our Changemakers traveled to Houston to join in conversation with criminal legal reform advocates from across the nation, and we hosted a restorative justice healing event with the community. Members have also achieved success in various career fields. Here are just a few recent highlights: Andre is mentoring youth at a local high school, Maurice began working with a moving company the day after he applied for the job, and William recently won second place with his team at the DC Central Kitchen’s Chili Cook Off, where he is attending their culinary training program.

Celebrating Our Graduates!: Free Minds Peer Support Program 

At the beginning of November, eleven Free Minds members graduated from our Peer Support Training Program! The Peer Support program started in honor of Free Minds member Joshua, who was a strong advocate for bringing awareness to the emotional and traumatic impacts incarceration has on individuals. 

During the twelve-week program, Free Minds members home in the community build their knowledge of conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, how to respond to triggers, and social capital. Graduates of the program, “Peer Supporters,” are then paired with fellow members who are home, and are there for the members as a support system. They conduct weekly emotional wellness check-ins to give members encouragement and help walk them through any stressors or challenges they might be facing. The program has prepared our graduates to go to the next level and pass on the knowledge and skills they have attained to their peers. Congratulations to our graduates! 

James and Gene Travel to Houston 

Reentry members continue to be active voices in the community, forming together to create our “Changemakers” team who advocate for the needs of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals. Free Minds members and Changemakers Gene and James traveled to Houston in November to attend The Five: Opportunities to Establish Equitable Youth Justice Systems, a convening hosted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. During the convening, youth justice professionals and community stakeholders from across the country came together to discuss the following five topics: expanding diversion and prevention; strengthening community/system partnerships; addressing guns, violence, and safety; creating healing spaces for youth and young adults; and sustaining detention reform. Thank you Annie E. Casey Foundation for making this happen, and to Gene and James for representing Free Minds at this wonderful convening! 

Members Graduate from the Free Minds Apprenticeship! 

Our members keep on excelling! Congratulations to our 14 Free Minds’ Job Readiness and Life Skills Apprenticeship program graduates who completed the program at the beginning of November! The Apprenticeship program equips members with the skills to achieve their career and education goals, including creating resumes, participating in mock interviews, digital literacy trainings, and financial literacy workshops. 

During November’s apprenticeship, members took a field trip to the Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Library. Charles, a fellow Free Minds member who now works at the library, took members on a tour of the building while also sharing information about the many resources the library has to offer. The tour wrapped up with members filling out their forms to receive a library card. Congratulations to our graduates from the program! 

Community Healing Event 

In August, we partnered with Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC) and Community Mediation DC to host a community healing event based on a restorative justice framework, with three Free Minds members trained in restorative justice serving as co-facilitators. By using a restorative justice framework, the event concentrated on safe community building and creating as well as maintaining connections by sharing the voices of both those who have experienced and caused harm. The event was a way to showcase the importance and power of restorative circles to provide healing for ourselves and for the community. Those who participated in the event, Free Minds members and survivors of harm, were able to come together and talk about how to provide safe environments for others to address hardships and growth. 

At the beginning of the event, facilitator and community leader Lashonia, emphasized that restorative justice is not just a simple program but also a way of practice, a way of being, and a way of life. Participants took this philosophy and were able to reflect on past experiences and actions, and how to further tackle harm as well as accountability. We are so proud of Free Minds members Charles, Craig, and Regina, who served as co-facilitators, and grateful to all of our members and community participants for coming together and furthering community healing through this reflective, peacebuilding event.

And thank you to you, for supporting us throughout this past year. Because of you, we have been able to make it to the end of this year with a range of accomplishments that will lead us into 2024 ready to continue thriving and growing.