Blog | United Black Family Scholarship Foundation
A Decade of Criminal Justice Reform: Have We Moved The Needle?
Just how much has changed over the course of the past decade in terms of Criminal Justice Reform and abolition efforts?
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY NEGRO BECOMES FIERCE SCHOLAR!
In Souls of Black Folks W.E.B. Du Bois tells of the story of John Jones, a happy-go-lucky Negro from the small town of Altamaha, Georgia. John is a free spirit who’s always laughing, smiling, and singing. He’s loud and boisterous. Unfortunately, John is not very...
From Sundance to San Quentin: Cori Thomas
From Sundance to San Quentin: Cori Thomas By Isabella Cain, UBFSF Media & Marketing Director When playwright and advocate Cori Thomas first walked through the halls of San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (formerly San Quentin State Prison), she carried assumptions...
Community, Culture and Healing By Tavia ‘Tay’ Pennington
"Community, Culture, and Healing" By Tavia ‘Tay’ Pennington “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” While this proverb expresses a sentiment of growth beyond individuality, it can get lost in theory when a community is choked by...
#Free California Movement: A Letter to Prison Reform Organizations
…if we are to invest in the notion of rehabilitation and entrust American institutions, then we must demand that CDCR release our loved ones, including those serving LWOP and death sentences.
Three corrections Officers Under Arrest for the Brutal, Unprovoked Attack on Multiple Prisoners.
Paula Lehman-Ewing paula@reimaginingtherevolution.com Published 12:10 Central January 10, 2023 JEFFERSON COUNTY, Alabama — Three...
Hidden Voices: 100 Prisoner Book Publishing Project!
As the founder of the United Black Family Scholarship Foundation, it is with great humility that I announce we are now accepting manuscript submissions from incarcerated authors for publication. Our objective is to select 100 prisoner written books to publish. There...
Lessons Learned Through Life, Service & Building People By Timmy Young
Lessons Learned Through Life, Service & Building People By Timmy Young Healing does not begin in buildings. It begins in people. I’ve learned through experience that communities don’t collapse overnight, and they don’t heal overnight either. Healing starts when...
Reclaiming Our Humanity: Community, Culture, and Healing
Reclaiming Our Humanity: Community, Culture, and Healing By Ivan Kilgore For much of my younger life, I believed crime was primarily the result of individual choices. I accepted the common narrative that if people simply made better decisions, our communities would...
The Truth They Don’t Want You to See: How CDCR Fuels Fear to Feed the Prison Industrial Complex
The Truth They Don't Want You to See: How CDCR Fuels Fear to Feed the Prison Industrial Complex By Ivan Kilgore It never fails to amaze me how easily people accept the narratives handed to them by the media and those in power—especially when it comes to prisons. Few...
R.E.B.U.I.L.D.: Community Reinvestment Program
R.E.B.U.I.L.D. Program Projected Launch Date: 01/21 Program Summary: Our program R.E.B.U.I.L.D. "Reinvests in Every...
What Change Means on the Inside By Ivan Kilgore
What Change Means on the Inside By Ivan Kilgore People often ask whether people can truly change in prison. It’s a fair question, but I believe it’s the wrong one. The better question is : What does change actually look like on the inside ? For many people, change is...
A Tool in Your Hands By Gregory Ringler
A Tool in Your Hands AI will not save anyone. But in the right hands, used for the right reasons, it can help a person save themselves. Here is what that looks like behind the wall. By Gregory Ringler There is more being written about artificial intelligence right now...
IVAN KILGORE, CORONAVIRUS WHISTLE-BLOWER, IS IN A CRISIS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tynlUWVcUQU&t=4s The coronavirus is spreading in the U.S prison system with new cases emerging daily. People in prison are sick and rebelling. Recently, Vice News did an interview with an incarcerated person who exposed the...
Socialism vs. Capitalism: Food For Thought!
It done got real UBF fam! Tomorrow (Sunday, August 18th ) our most recent addition to the organization, Cedric O'Bannon, informed he will be conducting a video interview with the following individuals for an international conference on socialism. On behalf of the...
Inside Leadership, Outside Impact
Inside Leadership, Outside Impact By Isabella Cain One of the most overlooked employment pathways for formerly incarcerated individuals begins long before release. It starts inside prison, where individuals take on leadership roles in educational programs, peer...
Success is Possible After Incarceration By Glenn E. Martin
For a long time, I felt like my life story had already been written for me. Like many formerly incarcerated people, I returned home carrying more than a criminal record. I carried shame, anger, and the overwhelming understanding that society often expects people like...
From Prison Leadership to Nonprofit Careers: How the In-Building Self-Help Program (IBSHP) Creates a Pipeline of Community Leaders
From Prison Leadership to Nonprofit Careers: How the In-Building Self-Help Program (IBSHP) Creates a Pipeline of Community Leaders Inside California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation facilities, rehabilitation programs often focus on individual...
Creating My Own Opportunities : Building a Pathway to Gainful Employment From Inside Prison By Ivan Kilgore
Creating My Own Opportunities : Building a Pathway to Gainful Employment From Inside Prison By Ivan Kilgore When people ask me how I prepared for gainful employment after prison, I tell them something many people do not expect to hear : opportunity is not something...
University of California, Irvine Prison Pandemic Oral Archive
We often think of prisons as closed institutions that do not affect us or our communities. But, in fact, our society’s health, safety, and well-being are closely tied to our prisons. The COVID crisis in prisons is revealing long-standing and entrenched problems with mass incarceration generally….