Dear Readers,
We are happy to welcome you back to another edition of our Voices For Justice newsletter, where we provide you the readers with thought provoking topics surrounding social, racial, and criminal injustice. In this month’s issue, we will be highlighting the amazing work and services being rendered by the men of Voices From Within. On Sunday, May 21, 2023, Voices From Within held our annual C.H.O.I.C.E.S event here at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. This was our first time in four years due to the pandemic. The event was well attended by the families and children of incarcerated fathers, uncles, and some grandfathers. The Voices From Within C.H.O.I.C.E.S event is designed to improve and strengthen relationships between incarcerated fathers and their children, by addressing specific needs such as emotional and social awareness with a strong focus on the power of healthy decision making.
As members of the same communities and circumstances, we truly understand the consequences families endure as a result of incarceration, which is why we aim to create unforgettable experiences that entertain, educate, and strengthen families. According to studies, more than 2.7 million children in the U.S. have an incarcerated parent. That is one in twenty children and approximately ten million children have experienced parental incarceration at some point in their lives. What’s even more troubling is, the fact that about fifteen to twenty percent of children entering the child welfare system have an incarcerated parent.
Incarcerated parents lose their parental right at a disproportionate rate due to the Adoption and Faith Families Act (AFFA), which sets strict timelines for initiating Terminations of Parental Rights (TPR). Many fathers are imprisoned far away from their children. 62% of parents in state prisons and 84% of parents in federal prisons are held over one hundred miles away from their residences.
Our activities were geared toward raising awareness, exchanging relevant information, ensuring our content resonated with our audience. With the help of these activities, we were able to promote and encourage safe ways to explore alternatives to aggression and violence while offering helpful tips on how to address and solve the issues they face. Our focus is to empower underserved youth through these activities to realize opportunities by Choosing Healthier Options In Confronting Every Situation (C.H.O.I.C.E.S). The overall goal of this event is to teach our youth how to improve the quality of their lives by improving the quality of their choices.
This year’s C.H.O.I.C.E.S event was coordinated and hosted by yours truly. I had such a great time hosting because it allowed me the opportunity to interact with kids and their parents. I want to thank all of the families and guests who attended and participated. A special thank you to Sean Pica, the Executive Director of Hudson Link for Higher Education for his sponsorship of our event. I also want to say a special thank you to a very amazing friend and special guest, Khaliah Ali, the daughter of the late, great, and legendary Muhammad Ali. Khaliah and I teamed up to send the kids who attended the C.H.O.I.C.E.S event on a free trip to visit her late father’s training camp in Deer Lake, Pennsylvania. She and I also had the honors of presenting the very first I Believe The Children Are Our Future Award to Superintendent Michael Capra for his unwavering support and his strong belief in the dedicated work and service we provided to the children for the event. Also, in attendance was Dan Sleppian of NBC, Jason Flom of Lava Records and the world-acclaimed Wrongful Conviction podcast, along with four of Voices From Within founding members John-Adrian Velazquez, Sean Kyler, Darrio Pena, and Andre Jenkins who are all home and doing incredible work in their communities and criminal justice reform. To get a glimpse at what you missed, log on to www.tinyurl.com/VFW052023. We hope to see you there next year.
LOVE, PEACE, TRUTH, JUSTICE, FREEDOM!
“Justice delayed, is justice denied,”
GARY BENLOSS
(#03A6415)
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