At 11am Pacific Time / 2pm Eastern today , we will be holding our first open Hangout on Google+. We hope to make these a regular occurrence, bringing in different experts each time.For our debut we are going to be joined by Marcy Axness, the author of, Parenting For Peace.
Once the Hangout starts I will add the direct link to watch it. Should you wish to participate please follow Humane Exposures on Google+ and leave me a note with your ID so I can invite you in!
We hope to see you there!
As evidenced in our own works there is nothing quite like personal narrative to communicate both the severity of the problem and that it is not impossible to rehabilitate.
This is Jen from Canada, and this is her story:
Don’t forget to join us Monday for our public video Hangout with Marcy Axness, author of Parenting for Peace!
Next Monday, June 18th, at 11am Pacific Time / 2pm Eastern, we will be holding our first open Hangout on Google+. We hope to make these a regular occurrence, bringing in different experts each time.
For our debut we are going to be joined by Marcy Axness, the author of, Parenting For Peace. Here’s what Sarah J. Buckley, MD, author of Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: A Doctor’s Guide to Natural Childbirth has to say about Marcy’s work:
Passionate and intelligent yet also profoundly simple, Parenting for Peace provides parents with the tools and support they need to create peace and participation in their families, their communities and the world. Highly recommended.
Along with Marcy we will have our own Susan Madden Lankford, the author, film producer and photographer behind Humane Exposures, joining the conversation.
If you have a Google+ account you can join the conversation live. Just circle our page and look for the announcement at 11 PST. If we have already reached our 10-person limit you will still be able to watch, just not participate. After we are done we will be archiving it to YouTube for those who missed it.
By the way, you don’t need to be on Google+ to watch it. You can just go to our page and click the video.
If you’re planning on joining us leave a comment and introduce yourself.
L to R: Susan Madden Lankford, Jenny Parsons, and Cecil Steppe
For more photos see the Gompers Album on our Google+ Page!
We had the pleasure of being given a personal tour of Gompers Preparatory Academy. It is an inspiring place, one in which the building blocks of many futures are laid. Here is a snippet of their mission statement:
The mission of Gompers Preparatory Academy, in partnership with University of California, San Diego & our community, is to accelerate academic achievement for ALL students through a college preparatory culture & curriculum.
GPA prides itself on preparing students for college and the professional world and beyond through a combination of rigorous academic curriculum, comprehensive life skills courses, and wide-ranging enrichment opportunities. GPA offers an all-encompassing education engaging all facets of student development.
The tour, which we thoroughly enjoyed, was given by Cecil Steppe and Jenny Parsons. Cecil is the Chairman of Gompers. He is also the Former President and CEO of San Diego Urban League and served as San Diego’s former Chief of Probation for 12 years. Jenny Parsons is their Chief Business Officer.
As our guides led the way, we were graciously welcomed by Gompers teachers, Director Vincent Riveroll, and 900 students dressed in sharp uniforms, lined up and ready to walk through the Gates of Wisdom. It was quite an experience.
The three and a half hour tour included several interesting stops. One part that was particularly touching was the experience of hearing personal stories of success from five of their seniors. In addition, we were treated to a special presentation by a lovely female vocalist and her fellow pianist, as well as a visit into their computer and chess labs. You can find the pictures that we took during the tour in the Gompers Album on our Google+ Page!
-Susan Madden Lankford
Here is a quick video about Gompers to give you a little context. They are doing some really fantastic things!
The New York State Catholic Conference has just made a formal online statement coming out in support of rehabilitation programs over mere incarceration.
Their announcement references the two things we feel to be most significant about this approach – lowering the cost to the public and achieving greater results when reintegrating the convicted back into society.
Here are the summary and statement of position from their announcement:
Summary
Many of those incarcerated in New York State prisons are afflicted with mental health or addiction problems. These individuals, and the greater society, would be best served by offering lower-cost alternatives to incarceration to address the problems that are at the root of their criminal activity.
Conference Position
The Catholic Conference supports efforts to reduce crime and recidivism, and to help former offenders recover and live productively in the community through expansion and improved coordination of alternatives to incarceration for mentally ill and addicted offenders throughout New York State.
While religion is not something we discuss, it is heartening to see religious organizations becoming aware of the data on which we’ve based our own findings. It’s all part of a positive trend we are seeing in many states towards programs that are both effective and cost-effective, either of which is a step forward.
Unfortunately, these approaches are frequently passed over in favor of short-term savings. Despite the fact that we are all feeling the financial crunch, we must spend slightly more now to save much larger amounts of money over the next few years.
As politicians on both sides of the aisle are hunting for places to slash spending, many of these programs are being endangered. For example, here in my native New Orleans, we are waiting for word on whether the five programs that really do some good are about to shut down due to funding cuts.
The more organizations get on the same page, the better hope we have of fixing our broken system.
You are invited to join the conversation with Dana Shoenberg and Jason Szanyi from the Center for Children’s Law and Policy, and Jessica Sandoval from the Campaign for Youth Justice,
On Tuesday June 19th at 2:00 PM EST
Please RSVP to info@njjn.org for call-in information.
On May 17, 2012, The Department of Justice released its final rule for the implementation of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). The rule sets national standards for prevention, detection and response to sexual misconduct in four categories of facilities: juvenile facilities, adult prisons and jails, lockups, and community confinement facilities. The teleconference will address the following questions:
Participants in the teleconference will discuss an outstanding issue for which the Justice Department is seeking additional public comment: by early August, it will be important for advocacy groups to weigh in about the rule’s required staffing ratios in juvenile facilities. We encourage participants to find out what the required or current operating staffing levels are in your state and local facilities, as we would like to have some discussion about positions advocates can take on this issue.
The information above was supplied by the National Juvenile Justice Network, a national organization of state-based youth justice coalitions and organizations that work to promote the reform of America’s critically flawed youth justice system at every level.
TED2012 helped Bryan Stevenson raise more than $1 million following his impassioned plea for justice at the California conference last week. Stevenson, a human rights attorney and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, spoke about the role of race in today’s justice system, including juvenile justice. You can watch his talk below.
Greetings, readers! On behalf of the team here at Humane Exposures, I would like to thank all of you for all the support that you have given us, particularly during the recent launch of our newest title – Born, Not Raised: Voices From Juvenile Hall.
Your support means a lot to us. Our main goal is to make a difference, and that cannot be achieved without all of you. The broken segments of our society are often marginalized, but putting a human face to the issues can be a great motivation for change.
The narratives and photos we present are a wake up call. Their stories do not need to be so tragic, and fixing the problems is nowhere near as expensive as most people think. As a matter of fact, it is far less expensive to give them a hand up (not a handout) and help them reintegrate with society. Of course, the narratives are meaningless without those of you who are kind enough to read them. Thank you!
If you have found value in our efforts, please consider taking a few quick minutes of your time and lending us a hand. Please stop by Amazon.com and leave a review of Born, Not Raised.
Each review helps us get these stories in front of more eyes — a vitally important goal as we enter election season with all of its budgetary debates. After all, now is the time when decisions need to be made about which gets funded – incarceration or rehabilitation.
Thank you for considering it!
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