We really appreciate when organizations reach out to see if they might be a good fit for our We Care Wednesday initiative. Our annual raffle/donation budget is limited and over the years we've found that we can make a bigger impact through this monthly campaign. Aaron Steinberg, Communications and Development Coordinator from Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts emailed this summer, "As the sole statewide legal services provider for over 13,000 incarcerated people in Massachusetts, our small organization carries a lot of weight, and your support would mean a great deal!" UPDATE: Thanks to your generosity we donated $575!
Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts's mission is to challenge the carceral system through litigation, advocacy, client counseling, partnership with impacted individuals and communities, and outreach to policymakers and the public in order to promote the human rights of incarcerated persons and end harmful confinement. The typical incarcerated person to lawyer ratio at PLS is over 1,500 to one. Therefore, while PLS responds to requests for advice and guidance from incarcerated people and their families on issues, their work is focused on five key priorities: Healthcare, Conditions of Confinement, Solitary Confinement, Brutality, and Racial Equity in Corrections.
We spent some time reading about PLS' work and found "A Different Way Forward: Stories from Incarcerated Women in Massachusetts and Recommendations" by Sarah Nawab to be a powerful and educational report, providing a comprehensive picture of how violence, trauma, and discrimination are intrinsic to women’s experiences of incarceration.
As always, we encourage you to get involved - you just might have the skills to assist with PLS' work!
And donate directly to PLS!
*Since launching the We Care Wednesday initiative in January 2017 we have donated over $57,905 to a variety of nonprofits and mutual aid funds doing essential work in our community as well as other places. From the Mayor's Disaster Fund to BAGLY to Movement Voter Project and Found In Translation. We select organizations that we feel represent not only our commitment to a better, more equitable world but also our desire to "do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can."