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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2015)
Family Preservation Project restoration an act of justice t was the little things that meant so much, Nova Sweet recalls. All the little things mothers who «aren't in prison take for granted. They would let me have a hairbrush and a comb. I could groom her when she came here,” Sweet says ecstatically of those weekly visits with her young daughter. “Everything you got to do with your kids in the real world, you got to do with them for three hours - from the nervousness of ‘hello’ to playing games to helping with school work. It was major.” Sweet says it was while she was in the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility that she learned to be a between mother and child - is the bigger, essential network. Peer mentoring, workshops, training sessions and an ear to bend when the pressure of doubt or shame becomes too much. Sweet says that the lessons and techniques learned in the program extended beyond those enrolled to others in the prison. Sweet takes full responsibility for her crimes committed and time served - she was incarcerated for 18 months on a drug-related conviction and burglary. She had a drug problem and she screwed up, she says frankly and often. She made bad . ________ mom. A lesson that would have decisions and she doesn’t hide from them. been lost, she says, if it hadn’t But even before her incarceration, she felt she been for the Family didn’t measure up to all the expectations of being a Preservation Project that helps mother. And once she was in prison, she knew her ~ m o t h e r s like Sweet stay children were paying for i t They were ages 5 and 12 connected with their children when she went inside. The shame was crippling and during incarceration. defeating, compounded by the social isolation of At the end of last year, the state announced it was prison. “All the judgment you say about your worst closing the door on the acclaimed project and using enemy, you put on yourself,” Sweet says. the $300,000 a year expenditure to plug holes in the p i e Family Preservation Project allowed her to Department of Corrections’ budget. It was headed “flip the switch,” she says. She was released on Feb. for extinction under DOC’s direction. 26 to her family and that evening attended the This week, however, the tide turned. Gov. Kate premiere of “Mothering Inside.” She is clean and Brown signed the bill that transfers administration sober and committed to sobriety for life. She lives at of the program from the DOC to the YWCA, along home now with her son and daughter, now ages 8 with $400,000 in general fund money for operations. and 15. What saved this program was less about State Sen. Chip Shields, D-Portland, who budgeting — $400,000 barely registers in the championed the program’s funding, said it was the expanse of a state budget — and more about a voices of the women and children in the program community that saw tangible and positive results in that made the difference. bucking our nation’s archaic stereotypes of felons. “1 can say without a doubt that FPP would not This country is winning the race to the bottom when have beeh restored were it not for the courageous it com es to locking p eo p le up — rep eated ly and advocacy of the .mothers in the program*” Shields generationatty. Where the prevailing image is one of told Street Roots. “FPP participants came down to irreparable damage, this program tapped into the Salem with little experience in the legislative power of transformation — and hope. process, but blew us aWay with their powerful stories of the program’s positive impact on their families. Many mothers spoke about how the program taught them not only how to be a parent, but how to question the cycle of low self-esteem that threatened their ability to succeed and stay clean after prison. They also brought their children, who told us how FPP was the only time they were able to hug their mom, play and read with them in a child-friendly place.” And the evidence bore out that this is more than a compassionate gesture to prisoners and their families. . ' - “Programs like FPP can reduce costs associated with the child welfare system, foster care placement, intergenerational involvement in the criminal justice system, and economic consequences of poor school performance and our safety net system,” Shields says. “Programs like FPP turn lives around, and we can’t be penny-wise P H O T O C O U R T E S Y O F B R IA N L IN D S T R O M and pound-foolish when it comes to helping children who have incarcerated parents.” From the moment the women in the all-female Sweet’s life was among those turned around. Coffee Creek Correctional Facility learned that the “Finding out that I could still follow my dream program was going to be phased out, they went into was enourmous to me,” says Sweet, who has action. They sought approval from their supervisors master’s degrees in social work and criminal justice. to start a letter-writing campaign. Sweet was integral She might go back into that line of work, but for in the effort, writing six-page letters, over and over now, her focus is on how the program - and the again, she says. They organized, stayed connected attitude that surrounds it — can be expanded. “I with the legislative session through the League of want Oregon to be on the map,” she says. “I think Woman Voters, and got the word out to anyone who our state has the right mentality to have this would listen, specifically state lawmakers. restorative justice rather than criminal justice. I The program also caught the attention of really feel like I’m restored from the process.” documentary filmmaker Brian Lindstrom, who Well done, Nova Sweet, and your colleagues, and directed the edgy “Alien Boy: The Life and Death of all the people from the State Capitol and beyond James Chasse.” An advocate for the cause, Lindstrom went to work on a documentary to raise who saved this important program. We too agree awareness about the program and the lives it has that Oregon could serve as a national example. When we focus on people’s potential and match it changed, titled “Mothering Inside.” Because beyond the little things - the moments with opportunity, we truly can transform lives. I editorial Above, a still fram e from B ria n Lindstrom 's documentary, “M othering Inside, ” about the Fam ily Preservation Project fo r incarcerated mothers. that you’ve written published in our pages, orw ould like to get involved as a member of our reporting staff, 503-228-5657.joanne@streefroofs.org. Street Roots 211 NW Davis S t Portland. OR 97209 503-228-5657 Fax:503-227-3117 ■■ . V' www.streetroofs.org www.news.streetroots.org Hours; 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Sat. and 7:30-11 a m . Sun. Interested in advertising in Street Roots? Contact Israel Bayer at israel@streetroots.org Staff Executive Director Israel Bayer israel@streetroots.org M a n a g in g E d ito r Joanne Zuhl joanne@streetroots.org Vendor Coordinator Cole Merkel cole@streetroots.org Operations Director Sarah Beecroft Development Director Sarah Cloud Development Assistant Ann-Derrick Gailfot Reporters Emily Green, Sue Zalokar, Ann-Derrick Gaillot, Sarah Hansell, Lenora Ko, Sam Bouman, Jared Paben Photographers Diego Diaz, Joe Glode Canvasser Desmond Hardison Board of Directors Chairman Bruce Anderson Vice-Chairman Brad Taylor Treasurer Heather Stadick Secretary Amber Bielman Directors Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson, Leo Rhodes, Nora Coon, Darren Alexander, Eddie Barbosa, Rachel Langford Volunteers Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Brian Ritchie, Anders Frederickson, Stephanie Holum, Anjali Rathore, Sam Bouman, Joanna Chase, Zoe Klingmann, Haven Herrin, Eliese Baker, Dan Jones, Rob Shyrock, Tom Ray, Doug Spangle, Susannah Kamala, Jessica Pollard, Christine Menges, Lee Ko, James Yu, Siri Carlson, Diana Richardson, Sarah Wise, Cherie Manning If you are interested in volunteering with Street Roots, please submit a volunteer application at streetroots.org/volunteer. Or call our volunteer coordinator for more information at 503-228-5657.
