.

Dolphy

   Post-Prison  

    Education

       Program

 

Quarterly Newsletter

Summer 2012 Issue

Greetings!   

 

Two weeks ago, standing in the middle of the Snohomish County Clerk's Office with 14 copies of a 62-page pleading in our hands led to me thinking, "No one really knows what we do!"  We want you to have a real sense of the work we do, but as we filed those legal arguments with the Clerk and prosecutor's offices we found ourselves wondering how in the hell we could ever explain our work - and then realized the story of this mother and student might help.

  
Ari
Ari Kohn working with the student files.

 

During the year since our student released from prison she has earned the trust of local government and the Pierce County Family Court.  She has regained custody of her teenage daughter, worked full-time, volunteered with non-profits, and earned a near-perfect 3.78 GPA attending Seattle Community Colleges.  Yet, since last March she has faced the threat of jail for non-payment of "Legal Financial Obligations" (LFOs) which she has, in fact, paid (and which the prosecutor knows she has paid).  It's crazy-making!!  Full-time employee, loving mother, clean and sober, straight "A" full-time student, but Snohomish County's response to her extraordinary efforts was to move to have her jailed....

 

Could you have said "No" to this mother despite knowing the following background, how far she has come, how hard she has worked?

 

http://postprisonedu.org/pages/137/success-story-42-year-old-mother-and-student/

 

We could not.  And therein lies the problem:  Every year we receive thousands of telephone calls and letters and hundreds of Personal Statements such as the one at the foregoing link - often times 10-15 applications in a single day's mail.  Each application tells a story you almost never hear from mainstream media and begs for help to turn their lives around following release from prison - and nearly all of them are as compelling as those in the "Why We Help" pages of our website.  Nevertheless, we are forced to say "No" to more than 95% of applicants - and six times in the last seven years I have had to decide whether to risk the corporation's very existence to protect deserving students or have our reward for their extraordinary efforts be to turn our backs on them.

 

What we do not do well - in fact, what we find impossible to do well - is say "No," which is why Daniel, Dawn, Gina, Jun, Shelly, and I ask that you please take time to read the Personal Statements in the "Why We Help" section of our website, take time to watch "Becky's Story:  Healing Dreams," and then donate as much as you can to help the Post-Prison Education Program.  Help us so we can say "Yes" many, many more times and never have to turn our backs on those who so clearly deserve our support.

 

Thank you!

 

Ari

Ari Kohn

Co-Founder, Managing Director
 

 

 

Featured Student: Elizabeth Reid  

 

Elizabeth Reid

 

Our featured student for summer 2012 is Elizabeth Reid.  Elizabeth has been a student in the Post-Prison Education Program since May 2011.  She is the recipient of the 2012 Martin Achievement Scholarship and contributing author in "Disrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline" (Harvard Education Press).

 

Below Elizabeth tells us her story:

 

My name is Elizabeth Reid and I am a student in the Post-Prison Education Program. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our donors for their unwavering support of our program and to let everyone know what this program has meant to me. I was born into chaos and criminality and led to believe from day one that my future had already been decided. I watched and learned and eventually became the criminal I had always been expected to become. Education was mocked as something unattainable for people like "us" and we were discouraged from pursuing it. This teaching led me to be imprisoned three separate times. The inter-generational cycle of imprisonment in my family was kept alive by my incarceration. This was not how I wanted my life to be and I cursed the fates that delivered me to the life they did. Then one day a door cracked open and gave me a glimpse of what life could be. It was the day that the Post-Prison Education Program came to our prison.

 

I will never forget sitting in the audience and listening to people who had lived lives similar to mine yet had found a way to change their lives through education. Their stories of opportunity and success touched me in a way I had never felt before. If they could do it, why couldn't I? Their passion for their new lives, their dreams for a better future, and their pride at finally belonging somewhere reached out and took hold of me. Education was the only thing I had never tried as a means of changing my life. In fact, I had avoided it like the plague. Yet...what if? What if it could take me somewhere better? Hope was born that day. When I released, the first appointment I made was with Ari at Post-Prison Education Program. That meeting changed my life forever.

 

 

 

Elizabeth is a HUGE Seahawks fan. Her and her son and at a game.

 

They took me in. They put their faith and belief in me. And I belonged to something for the first time. With the support network that the program provided to me, I was able to have a foundation from which I could build. Instead of worrying all of the time about how I was going to live, I was able to feel safe enough to focus on my education. The program became a foundation for me to stand on while I reached for the stars. Without that help I would not have been able to grab a couple of pretty nice stars along the way. Here are some of the shiniest ones: I am a 4.0 student beginning my sixth quarter soon. I was selected in May as the recipient of the 2012 Martin Achievement Scholarship through the Martin Family Foundation for the University of Washington; I will receive up to $35,000 for my studies at the University of Washington. I was invited to the University of Washington as a guest scholar in the winter quarter of 2011 in the Honors Program. I emceed, as well as performed readings of my writings, at the People With Convictions event at Kane Hall in April. I was asked to speak at the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers annual conference this year, and then to present the Champion of Justice Award to Ari. I was able to participate as a panelist for a community forum addressing racial inequality and mass incarceration with Councilman Larry Gossett and State Representative Mary Helen Rogers. I was a panelist at the recent Town Hall event as a representative of the program. I am also being published by Harvard University Press this upcoming November in their book, "Disrupting the School To Prison Pipeline" as a contributing author.

 

 

 

There are more examples, but I think these highlight my accomplishments as well as exemplify what the Post-Prison Education Program does-it changes lives. It takes those of us who have never been given the opportunity and hope that should have come with our humanity, and gives us those very things. We become validated as human beings of worth and value, and finally, we begin to believe in our own potential and value to this world. Ari Kohn and the Post-Prison Education Program, supporters and donors, and every institution that welcomes us onto their campuses have truly given us lives worth living; lives worth keeping. My life was spared. I was fortunate enough to be one of the few able to be served by the program. Without it, I would either be in prison, or even dead. And without supporters of the program, it would cease to exist. From the bottom of my heart, I thank all of our supporters for this. You have helped to save my life. You have helped to put me in a position to now give back to the world something of value. I will be the first in my family to earn a college degree. The first. And finally, the inter-generational chain of criminality in my family has been broken. That means everything.

 

 

Community News: 

Suits for Public Defenders

 

Donated Suits
Suits for indigent defendants
After a generous donation of suits from Men's Wearhouse, Post-Prison Education Program has sent many of the suits to The Defenders Association and the Northwest Defenders Association. These suits will be used by low income or indigent defendants for court appearances.  We thank the Men's Wearhouse for their generous donation so that our students and others are able to be dressed well for success. 
  
  Google, Inc. - Corporate Champion

Post-Prison Education Program nominated Google, Inc. for the 2012 Healthy Community Corporate Champion Award. Google, Inc. received the award in the education category for their generous donation of money and time to education programs such as the Post-Prison Education Program. Our Program continues to exist today because Google, Inc. and its employees stepped up and contributed.  Philanthropy from Google, Inc. and Googlers has provided our students with the funding necessary to continue their education, to build lives worth living. As Ari stated in the following article, Google has been amazing! "We worship them actually." Full Article
 
 

Student Accomplishments

Lujano art
Art by Post-Prison Education Program graduate David R. Lujano

 

Ari Kohn, Dolphy Jordan, Jenna Melman and Felise Kaio, Jr. at Benaroya Hall for South Seattle Community College Graduation

After two years of hard work and dedication, Dolphy Jordan graduated from South Seattle Community College and earned a well deserved  President's Award. Dolphy was also accepted at the University of Washington where he will soon be continuing  his education as a "dawg."

 

Felise "Jun" Kaio, Jr. and Ari  at The Film School

Felise Kaio, Jr. ("Jun" to friends and admirers), Caroline Cumming of MINOR DIFFERENCES, Lois Boome, Matt Stafford, also with MINOR DIFFERENCES, and Ari Kohn participated in The Film School's grueling 3-Week Intensive 10-hour a day curriculum.  Along with 11 others, they graduated!  And, Jun is now using his skills to effectively tell the life-stories of Post-Prison Education Program students. Read More

Gina reunited with daughter

Gina McConnell continues to prove her dedication to success.  She has united her family, is an All-Star student, and gives back to her communities on a daily basis.

 

Gina wins scholarship
Alise Hegle, Paul Killpatrick & Gina McConnell at the award ceremony

 

 

Last year Gina was awarded a significant scholarship from the Fabian Scholarship Fund and just last Wednesday evening stood in the Broadway Performance Hall to accept the Group Health Cooperative Endowed Scholarship from the Seattle Central Community College Foundation.

 

 

 

 

William Smith

 

 

 

William Smith was awarded two scholarships and was a keynote speaker at Seattle Central Community College's scholarship and award ceremony. Will was awarded the Fabian Scholarship and the Hugh S. Cannon Foundation scholarship for his hard work and dedication to his education.

 

  

  

  

  

  

 

 
Dawn Vrentas

Our Board and Staff

 

 

 

Hello Friends:

 

My name is Dawn Vrentas. I am currently attending school at the University of Washington working to obtain my Masters degree in Social Work. My desire to pursue a career in the field of social work was sparked after my experience inside the Washington State Correctional Center for Women. I was incarcerated here for many years and spent the majority of time tutoring women in GED and college level courses. The work I did inside the prison impacted me greatly. After I left prison I desired to continue my involvement with former prisoners. Thus began my journey with the Post-Prison Education Program. I was introduced into the Program as a math tutor, and now, several years later I am an employee. I am incredibly lucky to get to work alongside an extremely devoted and inspirational team in student affairs.

 

The Post-Prison Education Program truly does live up to the mission the organization set for itself by 'building lives worth living'. We serve a highly marginalized population by meeting basic needs and more importantly by providing emotional support, guidance, and encouragement to people who on a daily basis have doors of opportunity closed to them. By assisting students in accessing post-secondary education, and by providing critical and timely support, the Program assists our students in re-building their lives, starting with education, and to be an example for our future students and their families.

 

Our Program has continued to be successful because of the contributions of so many of you. We thank you for your continued generosity in the donation of your time, money and support. We value the resources that have been made accessible to our students and the doors of opportunity that have been reopened because of your support. We hope you will continue to offer your advice, assistance, and encouragement to our students and the Program.

 

We thank you for supporting the Post-Prison Education Program and our students in 2012. We simply cannot do this work without you!
 
Thank you,
 
Dawn
Dawn Vrentas

In This Issue
Featured Student
Community News
Student Accomplishments
Our Board and Staff
Upcoming Events


Three-time felon. One-time Tony award winner. Lemon Andersen is a pioneering poet whose words speak for a generation.  

 

Post-Prison Education Program is bringing Lemon  to Seattle to share his story and will also be screening his movie ("Lemon" trailer) in November. Check our website for dates and time.

 

 

$55-Cell Phone

 

$82-Bus Pass

 

$250-Groceries

 

$360-Textbooks

 

$450-Rent

 

$1,350-Tuition

 


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Contact us at 

 shelly@postprisonedu.org

 




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