Wilder Youth Development & Wayne Halfway House will also partner with Persevere on the program By Kathryn Rickmeyer From TennBEAT For many troubled teens, a sentence to juvie feels like a sentence to fail. Statistically speaking — it is. 80-percent of juvenile offenders end up back behind bars within three years, less than 2-percent ever enroll […]
From: Bay Nature Environmental Justice BY Lia Keener “Nobody’s got our kind of re-entry program that mixes soil, reentry, healing, and good pay,” says operations director Lynn Vidal. The nonprofit, founded in 2009, has employed more than 40 people transitioning from prison so far, many at the nursery. So far, the organization has seen a 2
Inside the East Oakland Plant Nursery That’s Breaking the Incarceration Cycle Read More »
The Democratic governor wants to remake San Quentin, where the state performed executions, into a model for preparing people for life on the outside — a shift from the state’s decades-long focus on punishment. And he wants it all complete by December 2025, just before he leaves office. Read the article here.
San Quentin Advisory Panel Meets In Secret Read More »
By BETTY MÁRQUEZ ROSALES and DANIEL J. WILLIS of EdSource In California’s youth justice system, many high schoolers graduate with grade-school reading skills Nearly a third of all assessments given were for grade levels K-6, though not a single student during those five years was below eighth grade. Many teenagers who’ve spent time in California’s juvenile detention
California’s Reading Dilemma Read More »
From: Napa Valley Register What happens when kids can’t read? One in five Americans can’t read English. And California is at the bottom, with almost one quarter of its adults English illiterate. Best guess: this state of affairs costs the US about $2.2 trillion per year. And our country is a global leader in incarceration.
Illiteracy and incarceration in the US Read More »
By Governor Gavin Newsom Reimagined facility will be renamed “San Quentin Rehabilitation Center” and will prioritize rehabilitation and education programs to strengthen public safety World-renowned experts to serve on new advisory group to steer transformation SAN QUENTIN – Today, Governor Gavin Newsom, alongside state legislators, survivors of crime and victim advocates, and civil rights leaders,
Governor Newsom Announces Historic Transformation of San Quentin State Prison Read More »
From Napa Valley Register By AARON MORRISON Associated Press Mar 5, 2023 Updated Apr 10, 2023 CHOWCHILLA — Joseph Sena has spent nearly half of his 27 years in prison for manslaughter. For almost as long, he’s been striving to make himself a better man than when he arrived. He has taken courses in creative
Rehab on hold: COVID-19 devastated prison learning programs Read More »
From: ProPublica The Data Newsletter BY ANNIE WALDMAN AND ALIYYA SWABY For people who struggle to read, the electoral process can become its own form of literacy test — creating impenetrable barriers at every step, from registration to casting a ballot…. Read the article.
Literacy and Voting Read More »
Dig Deep Farms, a nonprofit run through Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, tackles food insecurity, grows local produce and provides on-the-job training for parolees. BY: By DYLAN BOUSCHER | Bay Area News Group Read the article.
In the East Bay, a fresh start for the formerly incarcerated Read More »
From Prison Policy Initiative by Leah Wang, September 2, 2022 The state prison experience: Too much drudgery, not enough opportunity An underutilized government dataset goes deep into daily life in state prisons — including work assignments, programming, and discipline — revealing lost opportunities for rehabilitation, education, and hope… Read the article.
Jobs & educational opportunities behind bars? Not so much… Read More »
From The Marshall Project – Life Inside series Rahsaan “New York” Thomas was proud to finally earn his associate’s degree in San Quentin State Prison. But repeated COVID-19 lockdowns turned his graduation ceremony into a two-year ordeal. Read the article.
My Wild and Winding Path to a College Degree Behind Bars Read More »
From: Governor’s Early Literacy Foundation Illiteracy and crime are connected. The Department of Justice states, “The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is welded to reading failure. Over 70% of inmates in America’s prisons cannot read above a fourth grade level.” Read the article.
Early Literacy Connection to Incarceration Read More »
By Kathryn Rickmeyer From TennBEAT Inmate participants will earn a full-stack developer certification at the end of the 12-month program Nearly half of all people released from prison in Tennessee are back behind bars within three years. But training programs like Persevere help break that cycle and prepare people for successful lives outside of prison… Read
Convicts to Coders: Tennessee Women’s Prison to launch inmate coding bootcamp this month Read More »
This article originally appeared in the Napa Valley Register Napa County probation program graduates get a fresh start Jul 21, 2022 Updated Aug 26, 2022 Barry Eberling Here’s a graduation ceremony with a twist, one that for 11 people honored not only their achievements, but also raised hope for a radical change in how they lead their
Napa County probation program graduates get a fresh start Read More »
National Launch Event at SXSW on March 11 Includes Major U.S. Employment Partners Helping to Disrupt the Prison Pipeline Memphis, TN (March 11, 2022) –Persevere, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, has been awarded a grant from Walmart.org. Funding will help Persevere create and build the National Institute for Unlock Potential (UP) capacity. The national institute will
PERSEVERE Awarded Walmart Grant to Advance Workforce Equity for At-Risk Youth Read More »
From Persevere It’s unseasonably cold in Memphis when Drew Crowe pulls into the sparsely populated parking lot in front of the towering Methodist church. Large, imposing, and sporting multiple tattoos, at first glance you’d probably expect to find Drew in a biker bar before seeing him volunteering at a church. If you’re lucky enough to
Drew Crowe & the Transition House Read More »
From Persevere Giving back is part of Vant4ge’s DNA—that’s why employees are excited about the opportunity to join the Vant4ge & Persevere speaker series. Persevere is a nonprofit dedicated to educating and mentoring currently incarcerated men and women. Through programs behind prison walls, Persevere teaches inmates how to code, certifies them as full-stack developers, and
Learning Behind Prison Walls: The Vant4ge & Persevere Speaker Series Read More »
No Bars, No Chains, No Locks: How Finland Is Reimagining Incarceration by Natalie Moore at the Pullitzer Center
Prisoners In Finland Live In Open Prisons Where They Learn Tech Skills | On The Ground Read More »
From The Jewish News of Northern California Sentenced to life for murder, he has helped 1,500 fellow inmates earn degrees BY ALIX WALL | MARCH 22, 2018 Prisoner C27182 walks toward me in his blue prison uniform at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville. James A. White Jr. is easy to spot, with his distinctive long white beard
Jewish lifer who helped 1,500 inmates earn degrees freed from prison after 38 years Read More »
Michael Moore visits a much more civilized conceptualization of what we think of as a ‘prison’. Given what we know about human behavior and criminology, prisons in the US and many other countries are a scientific and humanitarian embarrassment. Take a tour with Michael Moore into Norway to look at the Norwegian prison system. Find
Michael Moore – Prison in Norway – VIDEO Read More »
