{"id":5667,"date":"2015-05-20T09:59:39","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T14:59:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gnof.org\/?p=5667"},"modified":"2015-05-20T11:00:53","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T16:00:53","slug":"micah-project-organizes-communities-around-issues-of-mass-incarceration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/micah-project-organizes-communities-around-issues-of-mass-incarceration\/","title":{"rendered":"Micah Project Organizes Communities Around Issues Of Mass Incarceration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/206377329&amp;color=ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nThe Micah Project develops a base of youth leaders to mitigate gun violence and eliminate the school to prison pipeline.<\/p>\n<p>Meet Dolfinette Martin.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did 7 years, 4 months, 26 days in LA Correction Institute for Women. That was my 4th prison stay but by God\u2019s grace, my last.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dolfinette Martin had five children when she went to prison \u2013 for shoplifting \u2013 what she saw at the time as her only way of providing for her kids.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of what I went through was due to my choices,\u201d says Martin. \u201cI didn\u2019t know a lot. All I knew was what the streets taught me. I had dope dealers saying: here, you can help your mama pay the bills. That started the cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Martin ended up a teenage mother. Then she ended up on the dope she was selling. She says it was a viscous cycle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was 15 years old I dropped out of Mac 35 to sell dope because my mama was struggling,\u201d recalls Martin. \u201cThat\u2019s what I learned in my hood, and like I said, it was my choices, but I wasn\u2019t given many. You go with what\u2019s best at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is what it\u2019s all about: when you hear the stories,\u201d says Minister Rosie Washington, the Executive director of the Micah Project, a faith based community organizing group which addresses issues of mass incarceration. And there are many. Micah holds youth workshops on the school to prison pipeline, they advocate for prisoners\u2019 rights &#8212; looking into issues such as bed size in jails and pre trial services. They do anti-gun violence work, and they help to lessen the barriers folks returning from prison face: getting a job, finding housing, and getting over the stigma of having been ciriminalized.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re talking about the fabric and foundation of our families being torn apart by a criminal justice system that doesn\u2019t necessarily have to operate the way it does,\u201d says Washington.<\/p>\n<p>The Micah Project works with fourteen congregations across Jefferson and Orleans Parishes, representing around 17,000 folks. Washington says it\u2019s by doing this work &#8212; building a base of people having conversations about the issues of mass incarceration, and helping communities organize and advocate for what they need \u2013 that will bring change to our city. Washington says it all starts with hearing stories like Martin\u2019s, and helping these people unlock their power.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo when we speak about speaking to City Council or going to Baton Rogue, we\u2019re really talking about people who are impacted by the issues, leading for themselves, and telling their own stories about why we must change,\u201d says Washington. \u201cAnd so it really is about, in the end, empowering folks to do something differently in a very public way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a responsibility that comes with being empowered: working with young people in order to stop the viscous cycle Dolfinette Martin spoke about.<\/p>\n<p>Jahnta Tate is a senior at Warren Easton High School. She\u2019s done lots of workshops with the Micah Project, including a role-play where some people were civilians and some were police officers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was amazing how they were so quick to be aggressive in the role of the police officer,\u201d recalls Tate. \u201cYou have to know your rights, but also trust that they\u2019re doing their job, and if they aren\u2019t, then it\u2019s your job to report to other people so they can do their job. It\u2019s all about keeping yourself safe and others safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jahnta says through the Micah Project, she\u2019s learned how to protect herself, and also, that her choices make a difference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou dictate your future,\u201d says Tate. \u201cThere\u2019s always a 2nd option. You determine your path in life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Washington is quick to add that adolescents &#8212; all adolescents &#8212; make mistakes. Our job, as society, is to correct those mistakes in a stern but loving manner. Not to criminalize young people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve talked a lot today about personal decisions and individual choices that we\u2019ve made, but there\u2019s another side to this,\u201d says Washington. \u201cThere\u2019s a system side to this. The side that talks about: why is it there\u2019s only one option for a certain group of kids in a certain neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Washington says our job is to make sure we maintain healthy children and thriving families, and anything that departs from that must be addressed.<\/p>\n<p><em>Written by Eve Abrams for the Community IMPACT Series and produced by WWNO in partnership with the Greater New Orleans Foundation. Learn more about the <a title=\"Micah Project\" href=\"http:\/\/www.micahpico.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Micah Project<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Micah Project develops a base of youth leaders to mitigate gun violence and eliminate the school to prison pipeline. Meet Dolfinette Martin. \u201cI did 7 years, 4 months, 26 days in LA Correction Institute for Women. That was my 4th prison stay but by God\u2019s grace, my last.\u201d Dolfinette Martin had five children when&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":5668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[677,30],"tags":[350,666,858,857,683,859,100],"class_list":["post-5667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-front-page-small-feature","category-our-community","tag-community-impact","tag-eve-abrams","tag-gun-violence","tag-micah-project","tag-radio-segment","tag-school-to-prison-pipeline","tag-wwno"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Micah Project Organizes Communities Around Issues Of Mass Incarceration | Greater New Orleans Foundation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/micah-project-organizes-communities-around-issues-of-mass-incarceration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Micah Project Organizes Communities Around Issues Of Mass Incarceration | Greater New Orleans Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Micah Project develops a base of youth leaders to mitigate gun violence and eliminate the school to prison pipeline. 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