March 2023 Newsletter
All successful coaches are constantly searching for great talent to make their teams stronger and help grow their organizations. As the coach of the Petey Greene Program, I am surrounded by some of the brightest and most passionate individuals and still, our team just keeps getting better. This past week I had the opportunity to welcome Darnell Burtin as our Executive Director of Business Development and Philanthropy. Darnell brings to this team a wealth of knowledge, creativity, and experience to strategically guide the Petey Greene Program on a course for intentional growth and financial sustainability.
One of the best things that a coach could ever hear from a staff person is that they have accomplished and learned so much with their organization that they are ready to take that next step in their career. Maco Faniel, who has served as our Director of Equity, Inclusion and Justice Education, will be making such a move. Maco has spearheaded and driven with persistence, commitment, and passion our efforts to become a more diverse and justice-education oriented organization, and I cannot thank him enough for teaching us. Maco, we wish you well on your new team.
As my Petey Greene Program staff will attest, I try to share something motivational in our weekly team meetings. Several weeks ago I shared a scene from the show “Ted Lasso” which I hope will stay in everyone’s mind and is relevant as we continue to build our team and work with tutors, students, stakeholders, and board members alike. In this scene, Ted quotes Walt Whitman: “Be curious, not judgmental.” With growth and opportunity also comes our responsibility to be curious about the world we live in and not judge others for their life choices. I hope you will join me as we continue to forge forward.
Jeffrey Abramowitz
CEO, The Petey Greene Program
Join us on April 13 for a Justice Education Series webinar
Join us on Thursday, April 13 at 6 PM EST for the final webinar of our Spring 2023 Justice Education Series: “What is to Be Done? Black College Students Confronting the Carceral State.” In this webinar, we will highlight the educational justice work of four Black-led student organizations from three Historically Black Colleges. While many college students are aware of the system that funnels people from defunded schools and communities to incarceration, these student organizations are trying to do something about it.
Read the Report on Phase 2 of our Plan to Elevate and Support Black Volunteers
We are thrilled to share a new report on Phase 2 of the HBCU Forward Initiative. This report summarizes the the results of the implementation and pilot phase of the program and provides recommendations for the PGP to continue to build upon these efforts to strengthen our HBCU Forward Initiative at Howard University while working towards scaling our volunteer support and justice-oriented leadership programming at HBCUs and PWIs across other PGP regions. Learn more about the HBCU Forward Initiative, what we have accomplished so far, and where we hope to go next.
Suggested Reading for Women's History Month
As Women’s History Month comes to its end, we continue to encourage you to learn more about how the criminal legal system impacts women in gender-specific ways. The number of incarcerated women in the United States continues to grow, but discussions of their pathway to incarceration, their experiences while inside, and the ways that sexism intersects with sentencing, incarceration, and reentry are seldom discussed. The PGP team has put together a list of books and resources to guide your exploration into this topic
NJ Staff on "Art and Krimes by Krimes" Post-Film Panel
On Monday, March 27, PGP New Jersey staff participated in a panel after a screening of “Art and Krimes by Krimes'' at the Princeton Library. Reginald Gaines, our New Jersey Regional Manager, and Een Jabriel, our New Jersey Division Manager, joined Jared Owens, a formerly incarcerated artist featured in the film for a conversation on the film’s themes of incarceration, reentry, human potential, and more. If you couldn’t join us for the screening, check out the important and enlightening film now.
Volunteer Spotlight: Darrielle, PGP Tutor at Howard University
Darrielle Alson is a third-year student at Howard University majoring in Psychology and has been a volunteer with the Petey Greene Program for two semesters. She initially got involved with the PGP because of her interest to ultimately work with young people as a psychologist. Darrielle feels that she has learned a lot about herself through her experience thus far: "I've just felt so grateful for the resources that I have had access to through my whole education journey because a lot of the students who are incarcerated are really smart and can perform at a really high level; they just weren't provided with the opportunities to do so." Darrielle also sees great power in being a Black volunteer because of the disparities she witnesses in the youth facility in which she tutors. "It's really important that the students see someone who looks like them coming in to help them out. The first thing I noticed when I entered the tutoring site was that most of the students were Black. It's devastating to see because there aren't just Black people in Washington D.C. It just proves that certain communities are being provided with fewer resources than others. I firmly believe that everyone is deserving of a fair chance, and these students weren't given that from the beginning."
Staff Spotlight: New Beginnings for Maco Faniel
Maco has been with the Petey Greene Program for nearly four years and served as our Director of Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Education for a year and a half. Beginning in April, Maco will be moving on to the Weissberg Foundation to serve as their Director of Organizational Learning and Development. When reflecting on his time with the PGP, he is proud of the work he has done and excited to witness how the progress continues. “Ultimately, what my work has been able to do is give a ‘why’ to what we do. Why are volunteers necessary? What is our theory of change? Now, we can clearly articulate we are an educational justice organization and give a framework for what that means through our volunteer training and Justice Education Series webinars. In those webinars, our tutors can understand the broader causes of mass incarceration and be connected with the thinkers, activists, and organizations pursuing systemic change." Maco has also been spearheading our initiative to elevate, recruit, and support Black volunteer tutors. “Not only does that help build a pipeline of Black educators in this space but it makes right on the claim that those most impacted by the system should take on leadership roles in organizations that are pursuing that change." Congratulations, Maco - we wish you well on all of your future endeavors!
Photo of the Month!
On March 23, Petey Greene Program volunteer tutors in Pittsburgh attended a screening of “Across the Walls,” a film showcasing the experiences of currently incarcerated women as well as those who have had their long-term sentences recently commuted in Pennsylvania after serving several decades. Thank you, Tarah, Margaret, and Alex (who tutor in Pittsburgh) for joining us!
Thanks to the generous support of donors like you, we continue to support the educational journeys of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people by providing the high-quality, individualized tutoring and academic support that every learner needs to achieve their educational goals. Please donate today.