Our New Beginning's Carole Pope
In Our New Beginning house , women are treated as humans
and expected to function. They will get jobs , counseling
and will learn to deal with their inappropriate
behavior. The alternative is prison.
BY
C E L I A
F L O R E N
hirty-two days. That’s the average
time in the State Penitentiary for
people convicted of property crimes
Due to the overcrowding, prisons are not a
deterrent, but warehouses Shuffle them
in. Shuffle them out. Without rehabilita
tion. ex-cons hit the street no better pre
pared to deal with the world What society
gets is a hard core population of men and
women that just get recycled through the
T
system again and again Until they give it
up or until they die.
Carole Pope, recently elected to the
Lesbian Community Project's Board of
Directors, has been there and is working
hard to break that cycle As an ex-convict
and the director of Our New Beginnings, a
residential alternative to prison for women,
Carole joins the Board in hopes of building
bridges between gay ex-cons and the rest
of the lesbian community At a time when
the gay population in prison is rising, it is
essential for the community to address
these issues.
Our New Beginnings was a dream bom
in prison. Carole Pope had been sent back
to prison in part because her parole officer
disapproved of her lesbianism. Back in
prison, Carole was so angry she refused
parole. Instead she got involved in the
fight to allow paralegals access to the
courts and Carole became the first para
legal in prison. What she learned from the
experience was that there was a pattern of
women recidivists (repeat offenders).
Women were re-offending because there
were no programs or support to help them
stay out of prison. Carole and six other
inmates started a suport group, Our New
Beginnings, behind prison walls. When
Carole accepted parole a year later, she
took the program with her.
Out of prison, Carole began the long
process of generating support from judges,
parole officers and city councilors for Our
New Beginnings. In the meantime she had
to support herself. Katherine English, then
an attorney, hired Carole as a paralegal
sight unseen. This was the beginning of a
long and deep friendship between the two
women. “ If Katharine hadn t given me a
chance, I don't know what 1 would have
done," Carole admits Eighteen months
later. Our New Beginnings opened a resi
dence in Northeast Portland with a handful
of money from local government and a
grant application to the Fred Meyer Chari
table Trust. "The grant was so crude, it
had to be totally rewritten,' Carole remem
bers; "Fred Meyer bought a dream." The
$47,000 grant enabled Carole to finally
draw a salary, and with a Community Ser
vice worker and a formei guard from the
penitentiary. Our New Beginnings began
to develop a framework for operations
But they were breaking ground all the way
The direction and purpose of Our New
Beginnings has changed over the years It
originally was intended as a support
mechanism for women coming out of pri
son. a place where there were other wo
men with similar experiences who could
help each other learn the skills necessary to
stay out. One of the reasons that this idea
didn't happen was that too many of the
ex-cons wanted Our New Beginnings to
help them beat the system, to cover for
them When, instead, Carole would call
the police or their parole officers when
they screwed up, these women figured
Carole was just another kind of cop.
To survive. Our New Beginnings
changed its focus and became a place for
women one step this side of prison. It
receives clients from the Council for
Prostitution Alternatives and other women
sentenced there by the courts. With seven
paid staff including three former residents,
the caseload ranges from 90-130 with a
current in-house population of 19 women
and three babies, and dogs, cats and gold
fish "Basically, I run a jail for the
Sheriff," Carole says. If women escape
from the house, now located in Northwest
Portland, they ’d get five years in the State
Pen, just as if they’d escaped from the
Justice Center The difference is that in the
Our New Beginnings house, women are
treated as humans and are expected to
function That means they will get jobs;
they will get counseling; they will learn to
deal with their inappropriate behavior. The
alternative is prison.
Women sent to Our New Beginnings are
often apprehensive and resistant. Carole
has a well-deserved reputation as a tough,
no-bullshit woman. She expects the
women to deal with her honestly and re
sponsibly. This can be frightening if
you’ve never been taught the skills to take
care of yourself Our New Beginnings is
essentially a self-help program and for
seventy-two percent of the women — it
works
Our New Beginnings is a very structured
society within which the residents are ex
pected to function. There are meals to
gether, and chores, counseling and
classes. Drug counseling is a fundamental
part of Our New Beginnings since the
percentage of addicts m the house has risen
from 43% to nearly 100%. Almost as many
women are victims of incest or abuse.
Sandy Fneland is the drug counselor on
staff and Patt Chance provides mental
health counseling for the women at Our
New Beginnings Other classes teach job
skills and living skills. Currently the
women are being counseled to prepare
themselves emotionally for AIDS testing.
With clients in two of the high risk groups
— IV drug users and prostitutes — Our
New Beginnings is on the front lines of the
AIDS crisis.
Celia Floren s profile on Carole Pope will
conclude in the August issue o f Just Out. •
lu st out
JP
Black and white and rad all over
D IS C O V E R T H E F IN E A R T O F A M E R IC A N C R A F T
Colorful,
Handblown Work
by Some of
Amelia’s Best
FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE
A PLEDGE WALK TO BENEFIT AIDS
CARE & EDUCATION
A 10k (6.2 Mile) Walk-a-thon to support the
Cascade A ID S Project Inc.
Sunday, August 9,1987
Registration begins at 10 a m — Start time: Noon
At Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Walkers, Volunteers & Workers
Needed Today!
CALL THE WALK OFFICE — 224 5105
FOR MORE INFORMATION!
PLEASE CUT ALONG DOTTED LINE AND MAIL TODA Y!
YES, I WILL WALK TO SUPPORT AIDS CARE & EDUCATION
REGISTER ME TOD A Y FOR FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE!
N A M E __________________________________________________________________________________
AD D R ESS_______________________________________________________________________________
CITY/STATE/ZIP
CODE_________________________________________________________________
TELEPHONE: DAY____________________________ EVENING___________________________________
□ Yes i want to walk on August 9th' Please send me my pledge packet right away'
□ Yes i want to be a team captain! I will organize a 10-person team to walk on August 9th!
Please send me the pledge packets right away'
□ I am unable to participate in FROM ALL W ALKS OF LIFE but want to support the Cascade
AIDS Proiect Enclosed is my tax-deductible contribution of $______________towards your goal
Good luck' Make checks payable to FROM ALL W ALKS OF LIFE and mar to
P 0 Box 14765, Portland. OR 97214
□ I want to volunteer to work on this event Please contact me at my abo\
MaH completed form to: FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE P 0 Box 14____________________
Just Out. 15. July. I987