[Women Prisoner News] Support CCWP's work!

[Diana Block]

> Many thanks to all of you who have already donated to support CCWP's
> work!
> If you haven't yet clicked on the *DONATE Button please do so before 2016
> comes to an end.
> <https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38329>* Donate Toda
> <https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38329>
>
>
>
> Dear CCWP Community,
>
> SHOUT THEIR NAMES! NO MORE DEATHS! BRING OUR LOVED ONES HOME ALIVE!  These
> calls of grief and rage reverberated through a Town Hall in Oakland this
> past July and two months later at a vigil directly in front of the
> California Institution Women (CIW).  CCWP organized these events working
> closely with family members of people who have died at CIW due to
> overcrowding, solitary confinement, lack of mental health services and
> racist neglect.  After three years of insisting that the epidemic of
> suicide and death at CIW could not be ignored by the prison authorities or
> the California legislature, *we finally succeeded in winning an
> independent investigation of CIW by the State Auditor, one step towards
> needed change*. Our continued pressure also helped push the dysfunctional
> wardens at CIW and CCWF into early retirement.
>
> We raised our demands to prison officials and the legislature through
> media, hearings, vigils, and town halls.  At the same time, we expanded our
> visits to the people inside, encouraging their courageous efforts to
> support each other.  We partnered with the women at CIW to respond to the
> traumatic impact of repeated losses.  We let family members and loved ones
> know that they did not have to deal with this crisis alone.  We were able
> to sustain this struggle against the callous disregard of the prison
> authorities and the lawmakers because we built community at the same time
> as we advocated for systemic policy changes.
>
> Other major highlights of 2016 include:
>
>    - *A Living Chance <http://alivingchance.com/> *multi-media
>    storytelling project was included as part of a major exhibit at Yerba Buena
>    Center for the Arts. *A Living Chance *uses storytelling and art to
>    educate about the injustice of Life Without Parole (LWOP) sentencing.
>    - Participation in the national Survived & Punished
>    <http://survivedandpunished.org> network which helped to publicize and
>    mobilize people to support Bresha Meadows, a young Black woman who was
>    arrested for defending herself and her family from her father who had a
>    long history of abusing them.
>    - Participation in the Trans Advocacy Group, a collaborative of
>    organizations working to support incarcerated transgender people in
>    California. CCWP helps the group coordinate more consistent support for
>    trans men held in women’s prisons, and advocates for trans women in CA
>    prisons.
>    - Participation in the SF No More Jails coalition which defeated a
>    proposed SF county jail rebuild in December 2015.Participation in the
>    city’s working group for alternatives to incarceration.
>    - Continuation of our *Fired Up! *empowerment group in the SF County
>    jail, our *Spitfire Speakers’ Bureau* and *The Fire Inside Newsletter*,
>    now in its twenty-first year of publication.
>    - Sustaining five visiting teams that provide legal advocacy and
>    support at all the women’s state prisons on a bi-monthly basis and
>    expanding out L.A. team to respond to the CIW crisis.
>
> In this grim political moment, we join with people across the country in
> preparing to resist escalating racist, sexist and economic attacks from a
> new ultra right-wing administration.  Heightened criminalization and
> imprisonment of immigrants is one of the many planned assaults that we
> intend to fight. Together, collectively, we will stand firm on our core
> principles of justice and love.
>
> * Please donate today!
> <https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38329>*
>
> Hafsah Al-Amin & Windy Click
> Program Coordinators
>
> Donate Today <https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38329>
> *We cannot do this without you, our community!  Please donate today.
> <https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38329>*
>
>    - Support CCWP's work in 2017 on a foundational level by* becoming a
>    monthly sustainer*.
>    - If you can’t commit to a monthly donation, please *make a generous
>    one-time contribution*.
>    - Please also consider *planning a legacy gift* for the future through
>    a bequest, a living trust or a beneficiary designation.
>
> *Your contribution will support:*
>
>    - Salaries for our two dedicated part-time staff members.
>    - Expenses for prison visits including car rentals, gas and food for
>    the people we visit.
>    - Stipends for the formerly incarcerated members of our Speakers’
>    Bureau.
>    - Printing and mailing costs for The Fire Inside newsletter.
>
> <https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38329>
>
> When I faced the hardest situation of my life, CCWP was there for me. The
> very day I received the tragic news of the death of my daughter, Shaylene
> Graves, in a California state women's prison, CCWP reached out to me and my
> family. Through CCWP's tireless efforts, my family has been given the
> strength to fight for justice and seek answers in Shaylene's death. Through
> CCWP, I have been introduced to other families that share my grief and
> struggle. All of our families have been given a voice through CCWP's
> incredible organization and dedication. – Sheri Graves
> <https://twitter.com/womenprisoners>
>
> <https://www.facebook.com/California-Coalition-for-Women-Prisoners-61209881719/?ref=bookmarks>
> *California Coalition for Women Prisoners www.womenprisoners.org
> <http://www.womenprisoners.org>*
>
> 1540 Market Street, Suite 490
> San Francisco, CA 94102
>
>
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