Who We Are
WE ARE
WE ARE a collaboration of organizations that engage in grassroots community-building to achieve social justice. It is our belief that all people in our community are impacted by America’s culture of incarceration and that shared foundation is enough common ground to create meaningful prison reform. Using media to capture the community’s experience with the prison system allows us to increase the circle of people invested in the change we seek. By sharing stories, we encourage each other to engage in continual dialogue with our loved ones who are detained or incarcerated while creating a network amongst those of us with similar experiences. We know that continued contact with our family members who are incarcerated decreases their likelihood of returning to prison, however we also know that it will take a movement to change the system and not just our individual situations.
El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos is a Latino immigrant led organization that works to decrease civil rights abuses by local and federal law enforcement authorities, and to decrease unnecessary detention and deportation of immigrants. La Plazita Institute serves youth in custody and those previously incarcerated, gang-involved youth, and returning Veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Media Literacy Project utilizes media literacy education to equip communities with tools to make change and create power. Media Literacy Project is currently utilizing story telling as a means to engage the community through their Strong Families Initiative and Prison Justice campaigns. Young Women United is a woman-led organization that seeks to amplify the voice and experience of teenage women, young adult women and older women of color at each decision making table that impacts the community. Young Women United challenges all that degrades and oppresses us and our families.
In New Mexico, that movement starts with your personal story about how your life is or has been impacted by the criminal justice system, jails, prisons and immigration detentions centers. The four collaborating organizations on this project share a belief that healthy families equal healthy communities and that families come in all shapes, sizes, colors and gender. Families having the least amount of resources tend to be the most vulnerable in the criminal justice system.
Through our collective work, we hear the personal accounts of New Mexicans who are impacted by incarceration. We hear devastation of families being broken and the triumph of families being united. We hear about the strength of individuals on the inside and the out. We hear about ordinary people in extraordinary situations, being extraordinary. Every story is valuable. Every story can impact someone else’s life and empower your own.
Please share your story. We believe that stories make a difference.
That’s why WE ARE here.