Hey EA fam! As we dive deeper and deeper into this work amplifying incarcerated voices, we’re measuring our success by how many lives, hearts, and minds we can change. So, we have an ask for our readers: If working as a volunteer, writing and creating art as part of the cohort, or reading/seeing someone’s work has impacted your life, we’d love to collect your testimony.
Please comment below with your experiences. Or feel free to message us directly so we can anonymously add your comments to the thread.
Working with Chris Blackwell and the six writers in our writers development program (and with the amazing Emily Nonko!) has literally changed my life. The powerful and eye-opening stories of these writers will certainly move the needle in terms of prison justice, and to have even a tiny part in that is probably the most rewarding and meaningful thing I’ve ever done.
I started working with EA and Emily 3 years ago while I was incarcerated in Florida. The amount of support I received from both her and my three volunteer mentor/editor/friends was phenomenal. Not only did Emily introduce me to solutions journalism, but E. A.. as an organization helped me to earn close to $10,000 while I was inside. This money was used for my transition home 6 months ago, and Emily and my volunteers continue to work to help me as a freelance journalist. I am forever indebted to the organization, rahsaan, and all of the people involved in my success
I've been working with EA for about 6 months now, and I feel like I've found the perfect outlet for my activism, teaching, and writing interests. Each week, I get to have a thought-provoking conversation about what writing while incarcerated looks like, and be able to witness some really beautiful writing evolutions with Felix Sitthivong and now Tariq Maqbool. Felix and I recently collaborated on a prison zine that chronicled the unwritten history of organizing while incarcerated in Washington State. It was humbling and inspiring to help be a part of recording the experiences and voices of community elders, as well as what the current organizers are doing. In being a writing mentor and assisting with everything from research to reading recommendations, I've found a way to practice my activism in a way that has direct, tangible impacts: having incarcerated writers be seen and heard.
Working, throughEA, with the gifted writers who are incarcerated, has been a real privilege. Their words, their stories, are such an honor to read and help get out there to a larger audience. Thanks so much Empowerment Avenue!!
Working with Empowerment Avenue has been one of the great privileges of journalism career.
I've worked with Michele Scott on her coverage of life inside a women's prison during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and her activism working to end life without parole sentencing now that she's out. I've worked with Kunlyna Tauch on his profiles of incarcerated men who crochet as a form of therapy and redemption, and his intimate profile of a family struggling with a life without parole sentence. I've learned more about America's system of mass incarceration and become more committed to ending it than from any other work or organizing I've been a part of. Perhaps most importantly, these talented writers have become dear friends who I'm constantly learning from and growing with.
The American criminal system is designed to ensure that the people it locks up cannot be seen or heard from; it's been an inspiration watching Empowerment Avenue grow into an organization that is making that reality harder and harder to sustain.
I'm so glad I've volunteered with EA. I've been with them since the first cohort of writers. It's affected how I see the world and taught me so much about the writing process and what incarceration really looks like. The writers I've worked with (Corey Arthur and Al King) are creative and tenacious, and I'm honored to call them my friends.
It has been an amazing journey working with Kunlyna Tauch via Empowerment Avenue for the last two years. From ideating stories to doing breathing exercises together, the two of us have built a friendship that permeates the inside-outside divide designed by the carceral system. I have loved watching Empowerment Avenue grow as a community and as an entity. Emily and Rahsaan are powerhouse journalists and people, and I look forward to following their journey together.
I worked with EA to create how-to-write bios and artist statement guides for the artist cohorts. This led me to directly working with many of the amazingly talented artists currently incarcerated in San Quentin, CA and Oneida, NY. My time corresponding via snail mail letters and brief phone calls gave me direct insight into the lives of those directly affected by a prison system that is geared toward incarceration over education. Every conversation I had with each artist and with Emily, Christine and Rahsaan provided me with a sense of their enlightenment, offering me guidance as to how I can help make change from the outside. I believe in EA's mission: solutions journalism and artistic expression are positive means to bring awareness that can lead to positive change. I'm a better person for working with EA - a truly meaningful organization.
Working with Chris Blackwell and the six writers in our writers development program (and with the amazing Emily Nonko!) has literally changed my life. The powerful and eye-opening stories of these writers will certainly move the needle in terms of prison justice, and to have even a tiny part in that is probably the most rewarding and meaningful thing I’ve ever done.
I started working with EA and Emily 3 years ago while I was incarcerated in Florida. The amount of support I received from both her and my three volunteer mentor/editor/friends was phenomenal. Not only did Emily introduce me to solutions journalism, but E. A.. as an organization helped me to earn close to $10,000 while I was inside. This money was used for my transition home 6 months ago, and Emily and my volunteers continue to work to help me as a freelance journalist. I am forever indebted to the organization, rahsaan, and all of the people involved in my success
I've been working with EA for about 6 months now, and I feel like I've found the perfect outlet for my activism, teaching, and writing interests. Each week, I get to have a thought-provoking conversation about what writing while incarcerated looks like, and be able to witness some really beautiful writing evolutions with Felix Sitthivong and now Tariq Maqbool. Felix and I recently collaborated on a prison zine that chronicled the unwritten history of organizing while incarcerated in Washington State. It was humbling and inspiring to help be a part of recording the experiences and voices of community elders, as well as what the current organizers are doing. In being a writing mentor and assisting with everything from research to reading recommendations, I've found a way to practice my activism in a way that has direct, tangible impacts: having incarcerated writers be seen and heard.
Working, throughEA, with the gifted writers who are incarcerated, has been a real privilege. Their words, their stories, are such an honor to read and help get out there to a larger audience. Thanks so much Empowerment Avenue!!
Working with Empowerment Avenue has been one of the great privileges of journalism career.
I've worked with Michele Scott on her coverage of life inside a women's prison during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and her activism working to end life without parole sentencing now that she's out. I've worked with Kunlyna Tauch on his profiles of incarcerated men who crochet as a form of therapy and redemption, and his intimate profile of a family struggling with a life without parole sentence. I've learned more about America's system of mass incarceration and become more committed to ending it than from any other work or organizing I've been a part of. Perhaps most importantly, these talented writers have become dear friends who I'm constantly learning from and growing with.
The American criminal system is designed to ensure that the people it locks up cannot be seen or heard from; it's been an inspiration watching Empowerment Avenue grow into an organization that is making that reality harder and harder to sustain.
I'm so glad I've volunteered with EA. I've been with them since the first cohort of writers. It's affected how I see the world and taught me so much about the writing process and what incarceration really looks like. The writers I've worked with (Corey Arthur and Al King) are creative and tenacious, and I'm honored to call them my friends.
It has been an amazing journey working with Kunlyna Tauch via Empowerment Avenue for the last two years. From ideating stories to doing breathing exercises together, the two of us have built a friendship that permeates the inside-outside divide designed by the carceral system. I have loved watching Empowerment Avenue grow as a community and as an entity. Emily and Rahsaan are powerhouse journalists and people, and I look forward to following their journey together.
I worked with EA to create how-to-write bios and artist statement guides for the artist cohorts. This led me to directly working with many of the amazingly talented artists currently incarcerated in San Quentin, CA and Oneida, NY. My time corresponding via snail mail letters and brief phone calls gave me direct insight into the lives of those directly affected by a prison system that is geared toward incarceration over education. Every conversation I had with each artist and with Emily, Christine and Rahsaan provided me with a sense of their enlightenment, offering me guidance as to how I can help make change from the outside. I believe in EA's mission: solutions journalism and artistic expression are positive means to bring awareness that can lead to positive change. I'm a better person for working with EA - a truly meaningful organization.