In this episode, we will focus on the topic of family and reentry. For a perspective on how incarceration affects families, and particularly children, we will be speaking with Dr. Avon Hart Johnson, co-founder and President of D.C. Project Connect, a non-profit organization in D.C. that provides support to families impacted by incarceration in the greater DC metro area. We will also hear from a couple of people whose parents did time in prison when they were children and learn how this experience impacted them.

Welcome to the fourth episode of the One in Four podcast, which stands for, “One in Four adult Americans has a criminal record.” This is a show that seeks to Humanize, Educate, and Elevate conversations about the re-entry process of the formerly incarcerated. In this episode, we will bring you a conversation with Tony Vinson, Recruitment and Intake Coordinator for D.C. Central Kitchen, a local non-profit organization whose mission is to use food to as a tool to strengthen bodies, empower minds and build communities.

In this episode, we will focus on community support and how critical this is for a successful reentry back into society. One of the organizations in the Washington D.C. greater metro area that provides this type of support, and much more, is the Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop. This community-based organization was co-founded by Tara Libert and Kelly Taylor back in 2002. Free Minds focuses specifically on young men, generally 16 or 17 years old, who are sentenced as adults under Title 16.

In this episode we stay focused on the topic of employment but look at the specific challenges that women face when they come out of prison or jail, which can make landing a job even harder. We will introduce you to Together We Bake, a small non-profit organization in Alexandria, VA that offers workforce development and personal training for women in need of a second chance. You will also meet Kadija Clifton, a graduate of the program and hear a bit of her story as an expectant Mom in jail.

Finding employment and getting hired is one of the many barriers that formerly incarcerated individuals face when they return to their communities. This is why offering training programs inside jails or prisons is fundamental to preparing inmates for coming home and being productive citizens. In this episode, you will meet Coach Rojas who is a trainer at the American Jobs Center in the Montgomery County Correctional facility in Boyds, Maryland. She works in the pre-release center inside the jail and trains inmates on life and job-readiness skills. You will also meet Lynda who went through this program and is now slowly getting back on her feet and pursing her dreams.

This trailer is an introduction to the One in Four Podcast, a conversation series on the reentry process of the formerly incarcerated in the Washington D.C. metro area, which includes the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.