Hi! I’m Devorah and this summer I’ll be continuing my internship with Operation Restoration (OR). OR is a New Orleans-based nonprofit which provides education, mentoring, and social services to formerly incarcerated women in order to ease the difficult re-entry process. OR provides literacy and HiSET prep classes, mentoring programs, case management, and college classes for currently incarcerated women through the Newcomb In Prison Project. As the Education Intern, I’ll be helping to organize OR’s educational programs and volunteering once a week to tutor in the prison.
This summer, I’m looking forward to getting more hands-on experience with educational programs that directly benefit the currently and formerly incarcerated. I look forward to the opportunity to learn how a local nonprofit builds community power and coalitions, how an organization creates meaningful relationships with their impacted population, and how the staff keeps things running smoothly on a day-to-day basis. Additionally, I hope to gain a more comprehensive and compassionate understanding of the everyday challenges that impact women affected by our broken criminal justice system.
OR’s programming directly impacts women and prepares them for leadership and success. The staff is entirely women-led and I’m excited to benefit from a mentor relationship with OR’s passionate staff. I’m hoping to come out of the summer with a clearer picture of how I can use my abilities, passions, and relative socioeconomic privileges to advance justice for all women impacted by mass incarceration.