About The Community

The Community has two arms: Pre-entry (our carceral in-reach) and the Correct the Narrative Campaign (our outreach). Together, these efforts prepare incarcerated people for success and transform societal stereotypes and fears about this demographic so preparation meets opportunity prior to and upon release.

Our Pre-entry consists of our new Prison Wiki and our origin effort, The Community newsletter – the most widely-read newsletter in the Wisconsin prison system, read by close to half the prison population and a number of people incarcerated in the federal system. Our newsletter consists of criminal justice news, resources, support for loved ones, LOTS of myth busting, financial and career preparation insights, encouragement, self esteem building, and personal development tools and commentary designed specifically for system impacted people. Our Prison Wiki is a partnership with a growing list professionals, higher education students, industry and business partners across the country, and incarcerated people to give those in prison unprecedented access to everything they need or want to know on every career available to them, along with ongoing personalized assistance to help them prepare. It will be a degree of preparation for incarcerated people that has neither happened before or is possible without our direct and constant connections as credible messengers to those inside.

Our outreach consists of the Correcting the Narrative Campaign, which proactively presents society with the successes, humanity, and agency of people with criminal records in communities that are more indifferent and antagonistic toward this demographic. Efforts and humanizers have done a great job to get us where we are on this issue, but it will require a different strategy and level of commitment to get us to where we need to be, to a justice system more worthy of that name. Collaboration and reaching far outside our circles and communities to connect with others is the only way to get to the future we envision regarding true safety and justice. Visit our Correct the Narrative Campaign page for more info and videos from events and interviews that illuminate so powerfully why the fears and biases surrounding people who break the law need to be corrected. But we are also getting this content to currently and formerly incarcerated people to correct the narrative we often have about ourselves. We are MUCH more than our pasts and crimes and evidence of that from others who went before us is powerfully encouraging and life-changing.

One of our principals is be an entry point, which means we represent the issue first and foremost. If our work and approach does not resonate with you, there are many ways and groups to get involved with and we can help connect you to the path and efforts that best fits your values, interests, and resources. Keep moving forward.