In partnership with Homeboy Industries and Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program, Our Stories Matter Season Four  shares the stories of folx reentering the free world through radical resistance and activism.

Prisons and many organizations in the free world complement each other as two sides of the same coin, as they continue to oppress and shackle folx coming home. Our Stories Matter engages in dialogue with two organizations that are dismantling the 46,000 collateral consequences around employment and education within a punishing system that has been created for recidivism. 

Storytelling is political. Storytelling is liberating. Storytelling is community healing. Our Stories Matter.

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Public defenders have often gotten a less-than-honorable wrap when it comes to providing services for those who need it the most. In this week's episode, Brendon Woods, Alameda County's first Black Chief Public Defender, challenges that bad reputation as he shares his passion and advocacy for the liberation of victims of mass incarceration. 

Brendon talks about how he is leveraging his position to fight against systemic injustice in the legal system. Tune in to hear the changes he is making in the community.

Visit the Our Stories Matter homepage to learn more about the podcast. Follow @TraumaInformedLA on Instagram and subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates.

Naima Ramos-Chapman is an activist and filmmaker. Her powerful story highlights ways she has used filmmaking to promote her own healing and the healing of others from complex and systemic trauma. She discusses how she leveraged film to give light to perspectives and experiences that are often dismissed and overlooked.

Visit the Our Stories Matter homepage to learn more about the podcast. Follow @TraumaInformedLA on Instagram and subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates.

While law in the US has a history of perpetuating systematic racism, Summer Lacey has utilized it to advocate for the most marginalized amongst us. Summer’s life embodies the transformational mission of using the law to resist and dismantle systems of oppression.

Visit the Our Stories Matter homepage to learn more about the podcast. Follow @TraumaInformedLA on Instagram and subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates.

Romarilyn is a black feminist prison abolitionist scholar working to interrupt criminalization at the intersections of race, gender, and education.

Her fierce advocacy as the Program Director of Project Rebound at Cal State Fullerton has helped establish the John Irwin Memorial House, the first collegiate housing initiative in the nation that provides a residence, holistic support and academic care for formerly incarcerated and system impacted students.

Visit the Our Stories Matter homepage to learn more about the podcast. Follow @TraumaInformedLA on Instagram and subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates.

Claudia Peña and Bryonn Bain are trailblazers in their work with UCLA's Prison education Program. The two are using their background in everything from the arts and literature to working in the legal system to invest in the education and healing of those who are incarcerated.

In this episode, Claudia and Bryonn share their efforts to promote transformative justice and healing through collaboration and trauma-informed practices.

Visit the Our Stories Matter homepage to learn more about the podcast. Follow @TraumaInformedLA on Instagram and subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates.

 “We’re just human beings trying to live our lives in a system that is oppressing us.” This episode’s storyteller speaks on the challenges that come with not only being an undocumented immigrant in the United States, but also being a Black man in America. 

Tune in to this week’s episode to learn how Aly Wane is using his experiences to advocate for the humanization of Black and immigrant communities in the political and justice systems. 

Visit the Our Stories Matter homepage to learn more about the podcast. Follow @TraumaInformedLA on Instagram and subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates.

“We are the ones that can best support each other coming home. Because we know what that feels like. We know how much we want to give back and how sorry we are for what happened in our lives”. Instead of systems of oppression being erected to stifle our reconnection to the community, women survivors of the American criminal punishment system can be empowered to be the healers our communities need.

Visit the Our Stories Matter homepage to learn more about the podcast. Follow @TraumaInformedLA on Instagram and subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates.

ACTIVATION WARNING: 
This entire episode discusses multiple forms of trauma, including graphic descriptions of intergenerational trauma, sexual trauma, physical trauma, emotional trauma and carceral trauma.If activated, TILA recommends to incorporate healing practices such as move, walk, journal, run, push against a wall, connect with people who are supportive empathetic and remember to breathe...If at anytime you need to take a break, take a break and you can always return later...

Countless women’s voices are smothered under the brutal reality of incarceration in America. Yet, Rianne has mustered the courage to speak truth to power. Incarcerated going on 12 years, Rianne clings to honesty, hope and resilience in her healing journey. Listen to her bare her soul live from the belly of the beast.  

Visit the Our Stories Matter homepage to learn more about the podcast. Follow @TraumaInformedLA on Instagram and subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates.

“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” Fearlessly from the Inside, Keyon shares how music and his promotion of literacy have been his tools for advocating for social justice in Black and Brown communities.

Tune in to this week’s episode to hear Keyon’s story of personal reform as he overcomes systemic and physical barriers.

Visit the Our Stories Matter homepage to learn more about the podcast. Follow @TraumaInformedLA on Instagram and subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates.