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Life After Life: Spare Room Solidarity Project

Friends, Comrades & Pittsburgalista’s,

Let’s Get Free is excited to announce our new initiative called Let’s Go Home! We have people in our network coming home, and hope to have more coming soon. We are cooking up many different ways to secure housing for our growing Pittsburgh community. So far, our motto is “Buy us a house or give us one or let us manage your property” 🙂 Yes our ideas are lofty!! But we are gonna bring them to fruition with your support! 

Our first effort is called the Spare Room Solidarity Project. Do you have a spare room or rooms that you could make available to an amazing person returning from incarceration?

We were really inspired when we read about  Impact Justice’s Homecoming project and also because we have reached out to the Pgh community before for solidarity housing and the response was overwhelmingly positive. 

We are looking for people who can make a commitment for at least six months, preferably a year. Members of Let’s Get Free have provided this type of housing and support in the past, and we are creating an information session and webinar explaining  what it means to sign up for a project like this. 

Please sign up here if you are interested in learning more about our new Spare Room Solidarity Project. We are planning to do our first orientation in October.

Most presently our friend Amy needs a homeplan – a promise of a place to live

A member of our LGF Prison Advisory Board- Amy Pencille is currently working her way through the extensive Commutation Process and is in need of a Home Plan. Amy has been a part of our network for 3 years! This means providing a promise of a place to live after she is released. (Which could be years away)

The catch is because everything with the courts is so nebulous we simply need you to promise her a space and then as time goes on we can find an additional homeplan if something changes in your life. A home plan is simply a promise in the form of a letter sent to the person in prison.

With solidarity and spare room in our hearts,

etta cetera and alan lewandowski

Categories
Events

From Prison to Freedom

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This Saturday members of the Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration-West are hosting a break out session at this years Summit for Racial Justice.

Saturday January 26th
at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
616 N Highland Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Breakout session: 1 (10:25 am – 11:25 am)
Room: Long 204 (capacity 48)

From Prison to Freedom:
Building Pathways Home

The Coalition to Abolish Death By Incarceration (CADBI-West) invites you to join us in a workshop/skill share in supporting people transitioning home from prison. Topics covered include navigating homeplans, commutation applications, support letters, housing and employment on release. CADBI-West is comprised of returning citizens, family members of people in prison and community advocates.

There will be a brief panel then small group discussions to delve deeper into different areas of interest.

Carol Speaks – CADBI-West’s newly appointed community organizer shares overview of the work of Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration –
contact: ms.c.speaks[at]gmail.com
Alan Lewandowski – CABDI-West shares reflections on PA’s commutation process, one of the only pathways for peoples sentenced to death by incarceration to come home.
contact: alanlewandowski67[at]gmail.com
etta cetera Let’s Get Free shares tips on writing letters of support before people return home and help with commutation applications.
contact: letsgetfreepa[at]gmail.com
Ricky Olds from The Real Deal shares insights of returning home after 37 years.
Contact: ricky.olds[at]acd.ccac.edu Available for speaking engagements.
Ronna Davis founder of Za’kiyah House Connect on Facebook @ZakiyahHouse
contact:zakiyahhouse [at]gmail.com
Rachelle Quinn – Employment Specialist with East Side Neighborhood Employment Center: 412-362-8580 rachelle[at]enecpittsburgh.com

Let’s Get Free is a proud member of the Coalition to Abolish Life Without Parole

CADBI-West is the Western PA arm of the Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration. Our founding meeting was September 25 of 2017. The founding organizations are Fight for Lifers West, The Abolitionist Law Center, Let’s Get Free, HRC-Fedup and POORLAW.