Twenty years ago, Susan Burton started A New Way of Life Reentry Project in South Los Angeles to provide safe housing and other services for formerly incarcerated women and their children. Having served six prison sentences herself, Burton recognized that women returning to society after prison needed a lot more support than they typically received. This month, Burton will launch SAFE (Sisterhood Alliance for Freedom and Equality) Housing Network, a replication model that will allow A New Way of Life to share its methods with other up-and-coming reentry housing programs throughout the country.
“Over the years, I’ve received many requests for training from other reentry programs around the U.S. People want to learn how we do what we do and apply it to their own projects,” Burton says. “We want to share our model as widely as we can and use our knowledge and experience to support the replication of our model in communities around the country that are impacted by mass incarceration.”
The SAFE Housing Network launches with a two-day training in Los Angeles on December 16 and 17. Attendees of the initial training represent around a dozen reentry programs, either currently operational or just getting started, in states including Washington, North Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, Virginia, Illinois, Arkansas, and the District of Columbia. These participants will be instructed by Burton and ANWOL staff on topics including sustainability, fundraising, branding, communications, data collection, research, and outreach. The session will also include a tour of A New Way of Life’s homes in Watts and Long Beach, as well as Project Rebound, a collaboration on formerly incarcerated student housing with California State University, Fullerton.
A New Way of Life’s model is unique among reentry programs. Not only does it provide the foundation for personal transformation, but it also involves formerly incarcerated women in effecting social change through advocacy and organizing, which helps the women build their self-confidence and gives many of them a renewed sense of purpose. This work includes dismantling institutional barriers that prevent formerly incarcerated people from being able to access employment, housing and occupational licensing and regain custody of their children. Additionally, the program is “survivor focused,” self-directed, and rejects a one-size-fits-all approach to re-entry. A New Way of Life has helped more than 1,000 women reenter society following prison and has reunited more than 300 children with their mothers.
The SAFE Housing Network will continue to hold periodic trainings with new cohorts of reentry program staff throughout 2019 and 2020. To learn more or to apply to participate in the training, please visit the SAFE Housing Network website (http://anewwayoflife.org/safe-housing-network/).
