On today’s episode of Talking Smack 415, Jamie the Great and I sit down with badass extraordinaire, Sunny Schwartz,  — a nationally recognized leader in criminal justice reform, restorative justice, and prison rehabilitation programs.

Sunny is the author of Dreams from the Monster Factory, which tells her raw and riveting journey from the South Side of Chicago to becoming a pioneering force in alternatives to incarceration, prison education, and restorative justice initiatives in San Francisco. Despite not having a college degree, Sunny became a lawyer, defied expectations, and shook up the justice system from the inside.

We dive deep into her founding of the Resolve to Stop the Violence Project (RSVP) — a program that slashed violent re-arrest rates by up to 80%, as well as Five Keys Charter School, the first U.S. high school for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated adults. Sunny also helped launch Home Free, a vital reentry housing initiative for domestic violence survivors and women impacted by trauma.

Her work has been honored by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and featured on Oprah, PBS, and Larry King Live.

And now she’s binging pickleball, the fastest growing sport in America to the prisons.  

If you're curious about:

• Restorative justice and trauma-informed reform
• Innovative prison education programs
• Reducing recidivism through community-based solutions
• The power of second chances and not giving up
• Stories from the frontlines of jail reform in San Francisco
• Why Sunny roots for the Cubs and the Giants…
• And what she wish people would ask her and never do

...then you don’t want to miss this episode.

Subscribe, share, rate,  and review  if you believe in justice, transformation, rooting for the underdog, and laughter and friendship to feed your soul! 

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