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| Graduates with Linda Steele (left), Strategic Coordinator for Circle of Support & Raising My Voice lead trainer. |
Last night while it was stormy outside, there was a storm of
love inside the Church of the Heavenly Rest. For the past twelve weeks a group
of formerly incarcerated persons, supported by volunteers from the Church, participated
in a presentation skills training called Raising My Voice.
Raising My Voice was started to provide an avenue for formerly
incarcerated persons to learn effective presentation skills that allow them to
share their stories with a broad audience. The idea grew out of an experience I
had in 2009 when I took some men from our reentry program to speak at a local
middle school to kids who were truant and getting in trouble (one child was on
probation and had an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet). The men spoke
honestly about their prison experience. They also expressed a deep desire to do
more to make sure young people from their community did go to prison as they
had. Eventually a recommendation for a speaker’s bureau made it into a ground
breaking Upper Manhattan Reentry Strategic Plan.
In 2011, the J.C Flowers Foundation funded a new effort in
Harlem, Circles of Support, that brings the faith community and families of the
incarcerated together to support men and women leaving prison. We piloted Raising
My Voice in 2014. Since that time three cohorts of trainees have participated. Graduates
learn critical story telling skills and the program connects them to paid
speaking opportunities. In 2015, $2700 in speaking fees were earned by
graduates of the program. The most recent class was hosted at the Church of the
Heavenly Rest. The Church provided free space and volunteers to serve as
mentors to the trainees. Last night's graduation highlighted not just
the skills of the newly minted public speakers, but also the deep commitment and
new relationships that evolved between graduates and their faith-based mentors.
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| Graduates and their Mentors! |
By Christopher Watler,
Project Director, Harlem Community Justice Center
