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FAMILY MEETINGS
Peer Support Rooted in Healing Justice for Families Impacted by Incarceration and Police Violence
Dignity & Power Now's (DPN) Family Meetings provide safe, supportive, healing, and politically active spaces for families impacted by incarceration, police violence, and the broader carceral system.
This monthly healing justice program offers trauma-informed care, community empowerment, and leadership development through therapeutic storytelling, artistic expression, and holistic healing.
What began in 2018 with two impacted DPN family members turned organizers and just a few families has since grown into a strong, supportive community of over thirty members.
Families find peer-to-peer emotional support, connection, and empowerment. Many have gone on to become canvassers, volunteers, and frontline organizers advancing Dignity and Power Now’s abolitionist campaigns and justice reform work.
This monthly healing justice program offers trauma-informed care, community empowerment, and leadership development through therapeutic storytelling, artistic expression, and holistic healing.
What began in 2018 with two impacted DPN family members turned organizers and just a few families has since grown into a strong, supportive community of over thirty members.
Families find peer-to-peer emotional support, connection, and empowerment. Many have gone on to become canvassers, volunteers, and frontline organizers advancing Dignity and Power Now’s abolitionist campaigns and justice reform work.
Voices of dignity & power
Healing-Centered Engagement:
Virtual meetings grounded in ancestral wisdom, abolitionist values, and trauma-informed care to support families navigating the lasting effects of systemic harm.
Court and Case Support:
Guidance and solidarity for families seeking justice, accountability, and healing.
Community Organizing and Media Training:
Tools to amplify voices, build leadership, and drive systemic change.
Mutual Aid Resources:
Responsive care that meets families where they are—supporting the needs of those most impacted.
Holistic Wellness Activities:
Breathwork, nature-based healing, and creative workshops that support emotional and spiritual wellness.
Abolition Education:
Political education that empowers families to challenge oppressive systems and imagine a world rooted in liberation and healing.
Connect, Heal, and Organize in Community
Join Dignity and Power Now’s Family Meetings to find community with others who have experienced the trauma of incarceration and police violence firsthand.
Together we can heal, empower each other, and take collective action toward abolition.
To learn more, contact Helen Jones, DPN's Senior Campaign Lead at helen@dignityandpowernow.org.
Together we can heal, empower each other, and take collective action toward abolition.
To learn more, contact Helen Jones, DPN's Senior Campaign Lead at helen@dignityandpowernow.org.
Support system-impacted Families
Contribute to Family Meetings to provide safe, supportive spaces for families impacted by the carceral system and police violence.
Your support helps offer holistic healing, educational resources, and leadership opportunities for families fighting for systemic change.
To learn more, contact Helen Jones, DPN's Senior Campaign Lead at helen@dignityandpowernow.org.
Your support helps offer holistic healing, educational resources, and leadership opportunities for families fighting for systemic change.
To learn more, contact Helen Jones, DPN's Senior Campaign Lead at helen@dignityandpowernow.org.
built from lived experiences
Family Meetings began in the summer of 2018, rooted in profound loss and resilience. Helen Jones and Sahara White, who would later become staff at Dignity and Power Now, each lost loved ones to the trauma of incarceration and police violence.
From their grief, they envisioned a safe, healing space where families could come together, find understanding, and build collective power. Family Meetings were created as a supportive gathering for those with incarcerated family members or those who have experienced state violence, loss of life, or the ongoing harm of the carceral system.
Centered in healing justice, the space offers court support, access to ancestral practices, breathing exercises, and connection to nature. More than a support group, this space empower families to find their voices, take political action, and stand together in the fight for abolition and transformative justice.
From their grief, they envisioned a safe, healing space where families could come together, find understanding, and build collective power. Family Meetings were created as a supportive gathering for those with incarcerated family members or those who have experienced state violence, loss of life, or the ongoing harm of the carceral system.
Centered in healing justice, the space offers court support, access to ancestral practices, breathing exercises, and connection to nature. More than a support group, this space empower families to find their voices, take political action, and stand together in the fight for abolition and transformative justice.
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Family Meetings have grown from a small gathering of a few families to a strong, supportive community.
Participants have become volunteers, organizers, and advocates, pushing for justice and change in their communities.
Family members have:
- Become powerful canvassers and knocked on 8,700 doors in 2024 alone
- Testified at numerous Civilian Oversight Commission and Board of Supervisors meetings
- Led the removal of former Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey
- Pushed for transparency around in-custody deaths
- Contributed to the successful effort to pass Measure A, improving sheriff accountability