A resource list inspired by our Com Com Live! The Path to a More Just Charlottesville discussion.
As mentioned during our broadcast, we hope that our session led to increased awareness of issues of reentry and incarceration in our community and inspired a renewed sense of action. In order to facilitate that action, we have compiled a list of local organizations (in collaboration with the panelists) for you to target your volunteer efforts, donations, and research.
Charlottesville Police Civilian Review Board seeks to establish social and racial justice by enhancing transparency and trust, and promoting fair and effective policing.
ACTION STEP: If you would like to share your thoughts on local policing with the review board, you are invited to do so at the link above. Also, look out for an announcement about their inaugural meeting on June 29, 1-3 pm (will likely be via Zoom).
The Clean Slate Act pioneered an automated criminal record sealing process in PA which has already helped people access employment, housing, and education opportunities.
The Equity Center is a UVA Democracy initiative for the redress of inequity through community-engaged scholarship.
The Fountain Fund improves the lives of the formerly incarcerated through lending, financial education, and community support.
GO Start-Up Program, run by the Minority Business Program, provides entry-level entrepreneurs with the resources and support they need to start their own businesses.
Home to Hope serves clients using authentic, lived experience to impact and inspire "time-served" individuals by introducing resources, providing peer support, and advocating for fairness, thereby advancing our community.
Legal Aid Justice Center partners with communities and clients to achieve justice by dismantling systems that create and perpetuate poverty.
ACTION STEP: Kristin Clarens is the Charlottesville-Albemarle Pro Bono Coordinator for LAJC. If you would like to contact her about providing pro bono legal support, she asks that you email her at the address here: kclarens@justice4all.org
Lending Hands connects the formerly incarcerated with transportation assistance, housing information, job referrals, resume assistance, child advocacy services, and group support.
On Our Own provides peer support, self-help, advocacy, education, and information and referral services to individuals who have experienced mental illness.
Oxford House provides housing and rehabilitative support for the alcoholic and drug addict who wants to stop drinking or using drugs and stay stopped.
Piedmont House helps men find their future, one man at a time.
The People’s Coalition organizes in the Charlottesville/Albemarle area in opposition to our unjust and racist criminal-legal system.
Resilience Education stops cycles of incarceration by improving employment outcomes and reentry success through high-quality business education.
University of Virginia President’s Commission on the University in the Age of Segregation explores and reports on UVA’s role in the period of racial segregation that occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries.
University of Virginia President’s Commission on Slavery and the University explores and reports on UVA’s historical relationship with slavery.
ACTION STEP: Black Lives Matter Charlottesville will be hosting a “Black Lives Matter to Public Defenders: Walk For Justice” today, Friday, June 19. The walk will meet at the Federal Courthouse at 255 West Main Street. Public defenders are a crucial piece to the fight against mass incarceration and for racial justice in our hometowns.