PRESS
MEMO: The Case for People First Reentry: A Just Approach to Support People Coming Home From Prison
May 2023
We are practitioners of community-based, resident-centered reentry housing and care, and we are formerly incarcerated people with personal experience with these systems. We wrote this memo to share our core values and principles that we have developed over years of personal and professional experience. We call this approach People First Reentry. It is based on six key principles: (1) agency, (2) leadership by people with lived experience, (3) a commitment to meeting basic human needs, (4) trauma awareness, (5) flexible arrangements, and (6) an overall restorative approach to harm.
In this session, panelists shared the principles of people first reentry as formerly incarcerated reentry practitioners and leaders across the country who currently run reentry houses with a people first approach. Panelists included Terah Lawyer-Harper - Executive Director of Creating Restorative Opportunities & Programs (CROP), Stacey Borden - Founder of New Beginnings Reentry Services, Marlo Da Motivator - Executive Director of Motivating and Transforming Lives, Rasheed Stanley Lockheart - Reentry Director and Richard Cruz - Co-Executive Director of The Ahimsa Collective.
WEBINAR: Briefing for Philanthropic Funders
June 28, 2023
If you are in philanthropy and would like to request a copy of this webinar briefing on June 28, 2023, please email reentry@ahimsacollective.net and we will send you a link. Panelists included: Ken Oliver: Executive Director of Checkr Foundation, Richard Cruz and Rasheed Stanley-Lockheart of The Ahimsa Collective, Armand Coleman: Executive Director of the Transformational Prison Project, and Courtney Santesero: Director of Residential Programs Peaceprints of NY. Hosted by Maisha Quint with the Libra Foundation and Chloe Cockburn, CEO of Just Impact Advisors.
RADIO SERIES: Crime Survivor Stories
August 22, 2022
KCBS RADIO | This five part series by KCBS follows a group of survivors and kin of victims who have gone through the VOD Program with The Ahimsa Collective. The piece documents their interaction with incarcerated people at Soledad State Prison around a collective journey of healing and accountability.
ARTICLE: "He befriended his brother’s murderer. In each other, they found healing" October 11, 2021
LA TIMES | This story of two men provides a window onto California's Victim Offender Dialogue program, which facilitates meetings between people in prison and the individuals they harmed. This dialog was facilitated by Ahimsa VOD Program Director Martina Lutz Schneider.
ARTICLE: "Can face-to-face meetings between a victim and an abuser help a society overwhelmed with bad behavior?" July 21, 2021
THE CUT | An in-depth article about bringing healing to people who have caused and been subjected to intimate violence, told in the context of the #MeToo and restorative justice movements. This article sites Executive Director, sonya shah.
VIDEO: Adrienne Maree Brown in Conversation with sonya shah
February 12, 2021
California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) | sonya shah interviews adrienne maree brown about transformative justice, cancel culture, and pleasure activism.
VIDEOS: Centering the Needs of Survivors
March 2020
Building Accountable Communities Project with the Barnard Center for Research on Women | Featuring nuri nusrat, sonya shah, Elliott Fukui, adrienne maree brown, Stas Schmiedt, Lea Roth, RJ Maccani, Priya Rai, Rachel Herzing, and Esteban Kelly
WEBINAR: How do we walk our talk? Exploring restorative organizational practices. October 16, 2019
Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice | Kazu Haga and sonya shah
PODCAST: "Tell Christy I love her"
October 16, 2019
Ear Hustle | Featuring VOD participants, Jason Samuel and Tom & Christy Morgan and VOD Director, Martina Lutz-Schneider.
DOCUMENTARY: The Prison Within
December 2019
Featuring Troy Williams, Sam Johnson, Barry Splillman, Eddie Herrena, sujatha baliga, sonya shah and others. | Watch trailer here.
ARTICLE: Unseen 2019 - Smashing the Patriarchy with Kindness
December 28, 2019
Live Mint | Featuring Sachi Maniar from the Ashiyana Foundation and organizations The Ahimsa Collective has supported and collaborated with in India.
VIDEO: What are obstacles to accountability?
October 2019
Building Accountable Communities Project with the Barnard Center for Research on Women | Featuring nuri nusrat, sonya shah, Mimi Kim, Ann Russo, Esteban Kelly, adrienne maree brown, Rachel Herzing, Stas Schmiedt, Lea Roth, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and Mia Mingus
PLENARY: What is accountability?
April, 2019
Barnard Center for Research for Women co-sponsored Building Accountable Communities: A National Gathering to Transform Harm | Shannon Perez-Darby, Esteban Kelly, RJ Maccani, Mia Mingus, sonya shah, and Leah Todd. Moderated by Piper Anderson.
WEBINAR: Adult Survivors as Movement Leaders
January 23, 2019
PreventConnect & CALCASA | Sonya Shah, Aishah Shahidah Simmons & Amita Swadin
WEBINAR: Centering Survivors - A Critical Conversation
April 18th, 2018
Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice | Featuring Kazu Haga, Alison Espinosa-Setchko, and
Richard Smith
FILM: Healing Justice - Cultivating a World of Belonging
September 2017
WORLD TRUST: Social Impact through Film & Dialogue | Director: Shakti Butler