Re-Entry Resources...YES!

People are often fascinated that I am a school librarian.  In many cases, part of those conversations have included a little education on my part on how a school librarian can impact the lives of the children that they serve.   One of the first responses I receive when I tell someone that I'm a school librarian is, 'Are children really reading today?  With the internet and all, wouldn't they be reading on the computer?'   I always have a strong comeback for that one, but this blog post is not devoted to that

argument.  The next question I receive is, "Where do you work?"  When they learn that I work in a lower income community, responses range from, 'Why???' to 'You could be working in the suburbs somewhere,' to  'More devoted teachers are needed like you,' to 'Oooooh wee girl, I don't know how you do it!'  I have to keep my face and mouth in check because I know it doesn't take much for my temper to go from 1 to 100 when people say insensitive things.

Throughout my career, I have served the children of incarcerated men and women.  This has been especially challenging for me because I have such empathy for the children that I serve.   I don't know what it is like to have a parent who is incarcerated and cannot speak or see them.   What I do know is African-American men and women are seemingly sentenced in higher numbers than other ethnic groups.  For example, 'The Sentencing Project,'  a nonprofit that advocates criminal justice reform, looked at incarceration rates for ethnic groups in every state, using data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Here are some of the most striking findings:

•  In state prisons, African-Americans are incarcerated at 5.1 times the rate of whites.
•  Five states — Iowa, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont, and Wisconsin — have a disparity of more than 10 to 1.
• Twelve states have prison populations that were more than half black: Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
• Maryland has a prison population that’s 72 percent black.
• In 11 states, at least 1 in 20 adult African-American men is in prison. In Oklahoma, it’s 1 in 15.
• Latinos are incarcerated at 1.4 times the rate of whites.

Source:  The Sentencing Project
What I have learned while serving the children of incarcerated men and women is it is difficult for the students and their families to find reliable transportation and travel within and out of state to see their parent.  It is expensive for my students to speak to their parent on the phone because the calls from inmates because they are priced very high.  My students miss their parent(s) and every aspect of their lives are affected. 

Re-Entry Resources
Serving as a school librarian and working with the children of incarcerated men and women, leads me to locate resources that will help me serve them better.   Yes, I have had parents reach out to me for assistance and I gladly did so because I'm a librarian and my job is to serve all of my patrons.  The following is a new and valuable television resource that has provided me with a deeper understanding of incarceration and re-entry process in this country.  Another resource is of course a valuable booklist that has been helpful for me to continue to do the work that I do.

Inmates For Change -  One of my friends Mr. Jones, a fellow Chicago southsider and business man, is making a difference in the lives of former incarcerated men and women.  He is the founder and CEO of Inmates for Change, an organization that:

• Is dedicated to breaking the bondage of destructive thinking.
• Providing “brokerage” services to ex-offenders at the county, state and federal levels,
• Provides re-entry services to returning citizens and individuals with felony convictions,
• Supplies teachers with a classroom curriculum model of critical thinking, interpersonal interaction, conflict resolution, spiritual connectedness,
• Links men and women to vocational training opportunities and residency assistance.

His show can be viewed on CAN TV, an independent non-for-profit cable news station in Chicago.  Viewers can also view current and past shows on their YouTube channel and call in during their live shows at CANTV.org/hotline.  Take a moment and view one of the shows where Mr. Jones discusses why the “old you” has to die in order to live so that one can successfully re-enter society.

For more information about Inmates For Change, please contact  inmatesforchange@yahoo.com. 

Book Lists (K-12 and Adult) -
Books where the protagonist has one or both parents in jail/prison
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/6193.Incarcerated_Parents

For Young Children
SeasameStreet.ORG
http://www.sesamestreet.org/toolkits/incarceration

Organizations
Youth.GOV - A Government run agency that provides support for the children of incarcerated parents
https://youth.gov/youth-topics/children-of-incarcerated-parents

The National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated
https://nrccfi.camden.rutgers.edu

If you have any resources that you would like to share, please send them to me at kcboyd1@gmail.com.  I will gladly include them on this post so that it can help others.