take action Archives - Dignity and Power Now

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Forever Rooted: Leadership, Storytelling, and Skill-Building

Forever Rooted is a program for formerly incarcerated people where we meet once a week for seven weeks and go over a curriculum that consists of leadership building, storytelling, and facilitation skill-building and encourages folks to become active in their own communities.

We understand that fresh out of prison people are waiting on that first call to say that they’re hired, which makes participating in a voluntary program like Forever Rooted challenging. Our recent cohort began with a nice number of participants and ended with around the same number of people, finishing strong. Through perseverance and dedication every person that graduated this year didn’t miss a single day! Shoutout to our previous graduates, Todd and Al, for showing up and supporting our most recent group.

Forever Rooted Spring 2018 Graduation

This last Forever Rooted cohort was active in our signature gathering events where we gathered signatures to put the Reform L.A. Jails and Community Reinvestment Initiative on the ballot in 2020. Among other things, the initiative if passed would grant subpoena power to the L.A. Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission. Forever Rooted participants were also active at our monthly Member Engagement Meetings and our Freedom Harvest summer pop-up arts and wellness events that take place outside the county jails. This group of folks was great and I was also blessed with a great intern. Grateful for everyone that helped my work and the program flourish!

T.E.A.M. work! (Together Everyone Achieves More)

If you have recently gotten out of prison and want to participate in our next free Forever Rooted program please contact me here.

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Witnessing Wellness

Witnessing is a word that gets used a lot these days in social justice circles. Like many of our words that come into fashion, it can be easy for them to lose their meaning and or it can be hard to really figure out what that word looks like in action.

Institutions like jails, prisons, and detention centers are made to hide away and prevent witnessing.

So it felt very powerful to set up outside Lynwood Jail on February 10th and bear witness to the very regular trials, tribulations, and heartbreak that people experience visiting their loved ones inside. It felt very powerful to be able to offer support in the form of food, water, and gifts that support health. We gave out 30 DPN wellness kits with a Rest Easy Tea and a Cleansing Body Scrub. We listened to people talk about their families and what their incarcerated loved ones are going through.

This month we were a small group and without tables to boot. But we were able to connect with a lot of people who are interested in building people power and resistance to caging people.

Most of the folks we spoke to had family inside who were dealing with mental health problems. It was heartbreaking to hear how often that was the case. All the more motivation and fire to fuel the jail fight. LA County’s plan to use billions of dollars to make a jail for mentally ill people are blueprints for tragedy, further heartbreak, and injustice.

Let’s take care of ourselves and each other so that we can keep up the fight.

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What is JusticeLA?

JusticeLA took Los Angeles by storm on September 26th when we launched our campaign to stop the 3.5 billion dollar jail plan by putting 100 replica jail beds in the middle of downtown L.A. in front of Kenneth Hahn Hall, where the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meet. Check out the video below.

Yeah, okay. But what is JusticeLA exactly?

JusticeLA is a coalition. It’s an umbrella group where over 50 organizations have come together to fight a common cause: jail construction in L.A. County. A coalition is kind of like an organization for organizations, and JusticeLA is one of the biggest of its kind!

So is Dignity and Power Now JusticeLA?

Yes! So is Californians United for a Responsible Budget, Community Coalition, Immigrant Youth Coalition, Revolve Impact, TransLatin@ Coalition, Youth Justice Coalition, and 40+ other organizations and counting!

And what do you all do as JusticeLA?

Ultimately we’re calling for a stop to jail construction and expansion in order to fully realize the promise of diversion and re-entry through a justice reinvestment strategy for Los Angeles.

Although JusticeLA has only publicly existed for a little over a month, 3 people have died in the jails during that time. We’ve responded by having a vigil outside of the jails, a powerful town hall meeting in the Antelope Valley where family members spoke, making an altar for Día de los Muertos at Hollywood Forever, and releasing multiple videos including the one below that documents the entire town hall.

We’re now looking for 88 artists who want to shut down the county’s 3.5 billion dollar jail plan by utilizing the jail beds from our campaign launch to create public art projects in each of L.A. County’s 88 cities by December 24th. Submit your proposal here!

How is JusticeLA different from the Coalition to End Sheriff Violence and LA No More Jails?

Good question! Those are separate coalitions with different goals. The organizations in the C2ESV all want to end sheriff violence in the jails and are working towards common goals like effective civilian oversight of the LASD. LA No More Jails is a coalition with the common goal of abolishing all jails in L.A. County, including but not limited to new jail construction. So although you will see a lot of crossover in organization participation, these are separate collectives of organizations with separate goals.

Whether through JusticeLA, the Coalition to End Sheriff Violence, LA No More Jails, or on our own, we at Dignity and Power Now will continue to work to secure dignity and power for all incarcerated people, their families, and communities. Join us!

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NOW HIRING: Is It Your Dream Career to Abolish the Jail System?

As the movement to end mass incarceration progresses and grows, so does our staff! Dignity and Power Now is expanding and over the next 6 months we will be posting open positions. At this point we’re excited to announce that we’re hiring for 3 full-time positions: Director of Campaigns and Organizing, Managing Director, and Deputy Director of Health and Wellness!

We are an abolitionist organization working for the dignity and power of all incarcerated people, their families, and communities and we strive to build the leadership of formerly incarcerated Black and Brown people. The ideal candidates will be strategic thinkers, storytellers, sociable, passionate about prison abolition, and will have a basic understanding of the Los Angeles County jail system. Formerly incarcerated people are encourage to apply!

applicant_2Director of Campaigns and Organizing

The Director of Campaigns and Organizing plays a key role in developing and guiding our political strategy. She or he is expected to be knowledgeable of the political landscape and be a respected movement leader who can speak to elected leaders, organizers, and members with ease and conviction. The Director of Campaigns and Organizing is charged with ensuring that the campaign plans have the potential to lead to a victory in the current political landscape according to a proscribed timeline.

Do you like talking to people about jail issues?
Are you receptive to trauma and mental health issues?
Do you have 5 years experience in grassroots organizing?
Are you passionate about civilian oversight and stopping jail construction?
Are you ready to join a badass team of abolitionists?

APPLY NOW!

applicant_1Managing Director

The Managing Director plays a key role in overseeing our ongoing operations and procedures. The Managing Director is specifically charged with ensuring that the team is developing and implementing a plan that advances campaign goals, making sure that sufficient funds are being developed to meet the budget adopted by the Board of Directors, maintaining fiscal controls consistent with the financial policies and procedures adopted by the Board of Directors, and that the entire staff is being accountable to their work plans.

Do you get psyched about developing plans and organizing teams?
Do you like developing funds for revolutionary budgets?
Are you ready oversee radical operations and procedures?
Are you looking forward to presenting your hard work to our Board?
Are you ready to join a badass team of abolitionists?

APPLY NOW!

applicant_2Deputy Director of Health and Wellness

The Deputy Director of Health and Wellness is responsible for day-to-day management of our wellness programming and supporting integration of wellness programming into campaign strategy.

Do you consider yourself a movement healer?
Are you receptive to trauma and mental health issues?
Do you have 2 years experience in healing practice?
Are you excited to develop a healing justice structure?
Are you ready to join a badass team of abolitionists?

APPLY NOW!

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