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CAMPAIGNS
DECARCERATION & ABOLITION
JUSTICELA
CLOSE MCJ
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CLOSE MCJ ✖
Dignity and Power NOW is an anchor organization for JusticeLA, a coalition of grassroots organizations, advocates, directly impacted communities, and stakeholders, working to reduce the footprint of incarceration by stopping jail expansion and reclaiming, reimagining and reinvesting dollars away from incarceration and into community-based systems of care.
Together we are fighting to Close Down Men’s Central jail through policy advocacy and mobilizing with our communities. In 2017, JusticeLA successfully pushed the County to cancel a $3.5 billion dollar plan to expand Men’s Central Jail. Members of our coalition, volunteers, and community have given thousands of hours to the County in an effort to move towards a Care First, Jails Last reality.
Through these partnerships, collaboration, and public access we have jointly created:
1) the Care First, Jails Last ATI Report, 2) Men’s Central Jail Closure Report, and 3) the Measure J year one spending plan.
COALITION FOR PAROLE JUSTICE
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PENNSYLVANIA
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COALITION FOR PAROLE JUSTICE ⁍ PENNSYLVANIA ⁌
Founded by Dignity and Power Now, Color of Change, the Abolitionist Law Center, Frontline Dads, and Unincarcerated Minds, the Coalition for Parole Justice is a network of directly impacted advocates, legal advocates, national civil rights, and grassroots organizations that seeks to eradicate the use of long term parole that extends the carceral state into Black and Brown communities and continues cycles of incarceration.
Join our mailing list for updates.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @parolejustice.
PRESERVE THE PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE
CARE FIRST CALIFORNIA
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CARE FIRST CALIFORNIA
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CARE FIRST CALIFORNIA 𓄷 CARE FIRST CALIFORNIA 𓄶
Dignity and Power NOW is also an anchor organization of the Care First California coalition. The Care First California Coalition is an alliance of community organizations, directly impacted people, state and national advocacy groups, civil rights advocates, and public defenders who seek to replace the carceral system with a system that provides support and care for all people in need.
We have joined together to promote comprehensive pretrial reform through our legislative model “Preserving the Presumption of Innocence” (PPI) that ends money bail, rejects risk assessments, dramatically reduces the number of people eligible for pretrial incarceration, guarantees due process rights, and develops community-based pretrial services and supports for survivors of crime, completely independent of law enforcement.
No CARE Court
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No CARE Court
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No CARE Court ✺ No CARE Court ✺
The NO CARE Court coalition is composed of mental health, houseless, and civil rights advocates, leading campaign efforts to kill SB 1338 “CARE Courts'', while amplifying the voices of Black and Brown communities. SB 1338 will mandate court-ordered forced treatment and medication for unhoused and mentally disabled populations, with consequences of state conservatorship, criminal penalties, and punitive damages for those who do not comply. The NO CARE Court coalition highlights that Black and Brown communities will be disproportionately impacted by CARE Courts, as it is an extension of the carceral system.
LAW ENFORCEMENT ACCOUNTABILITY
CHECK THE SHERIFF COALITION
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CHECK THE SHERIFF COALITION ↤
Dignity and Power NOW is an anchor organization for the Check the Sheriff Coalition, a community coalition centered on uplifting the voices of families surviving the violence of the LA County Sheriff’s Department. The coalition works alongside families impacted by Sheriff violence to advocate for oversight and accountability in LASD. Check the Sheriff aims to raise awareness of the presence of violent deputy gangs within the Sheriff’s Department and continues to fight for transparency and oversight of LASD by the County. Currently, the coalition is working on a measure that would amend the L.A. County Charter to maximize civilian oversight and common-sense checks and balances over the sheriff and LASD.
For questions and inquiries about our campaigns and how to participate, please email DPN & JusticeLA
VIRTUAL ACTION
JusticeLA Virtual Actions are a COVID-safe way for folks to support the JusticeLA coalition by joining together (virtually) to take action towards decarceration and to promote Care over Cages in LA.
Training, orientation to JusticeLA Virtual Actions, political education on the day's action, and instructions are all included during the action session.
CIVILIAN OVERSIGHT COMMISSION
Dignity and Power Now is the anchor organization for the Coalition to End Sheriff Violence (C2ESV), a coalition of Los Angeles community organizations who fought and won civilian oversight for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in 2014.
The Los Angeles County Civilian Oversight Commission (COC) was officially implemented in January 2016. Of the nine-member commission appointed by the Board of Supervisors, four must be community members. All commission members serve three-year terms and can serve a maximum of two terms. The COC allows for an unlimited number of complaints to be filed against the Sheriff’s Department. The commission meets every month and has a 10-minute Family Impact Remarks platform for families to speak freely about their experiences with LASD/law enforcement. The Coalition to End Sheriff Violence (C2ESV) also offers support to families directly or indirectly impacted by the carceral jail system, mental health, trauma, and law enforcement violence. We will help support you in court, meetings, and while giving public testimony.
We continue to fight for the COC to be effective for communities around Los Angeles County and Antelope Valley. If you would like more information on attending meetings, support, and guidance through the carceral jail system with your loved one, please contact Michele Infante - Senior Campaign Lead
Dignity and Power Now have several initiatives to End Sheriff Violence in the LA County jails. Although the existence of the commission is a major victory, the C2ESV is still fighting to ensure the commission has the power to hold the Sheriff and his Department accountable and transparent. This includes the power to subpoena the Sheriff’s Department, outside independent investigative powers when a community member dies at the hands of LASD, the power to direct the work of the Office of Inspector General, support the ACLU charter amendment to allow the Board of Supervisors to impeach the Sheriff for criminal conduct and the demand that NO former law enforcement serves on the commission. As of 2016, there are two former law enforcement officers, Judge Bonner, a former DEA, and Customs Enforcement, and J.P.Harris, a retired 30-year veteran former Los Angeles County Sheriff Deputy. We continue to fight monthly for these changes.
In support of the demand for Subpoena Power, the Reform Jails and Community Reinvestment Initiative was launched in 2018. Subpoena power for the COC passed and was approved by voters around LA County. The Reform Jails and Community Initiative puts the conversation of police accountability, transparency, and alternatives to incarceration into the hands of the VOTERS.
HEALTH & WELLNESS
HEALING JUSTICE
For 10 years, Dignity and Power Now have worked within black and brown communities with the goal of achieving healing and transformative justice for incarcerated people and their families. Our work in healing justice is grounded in the principles of abolition, healing, and transformative justice. DPN has a multitude of programs centered around activism that not only challenge many of the tools of state-sanctioned violence but also aim at healing and strengthening those impacted. DPN’s Healing Justice team works within the framework of addressing generational trauma using ancestral/ indigenous practices and embracing new forms of healing.
Building Resilience:
Our Healers
Building Resilience (BR) is Dignity and Power Now’s cohort of healers dedicated to providing healing justice to those impacted by state violence. Using indigenous and holistic practices such as acupuncture, massage, reiki, yoga, bodywork, somatics, plant healing, and meditation, DPN’s Building Resilience team addresses intergenerational trauma while demonstrating that people don’t always need to rely upon capitalistic medicine (the same system that often causes abuse). Healing Justice offers communities methods to find healing power within themselves and their communities. Using the principles of healing justice, Building Resilience is transforming and ending systems of oppression to create a world in which people are healthy and care for each other. They do that by sharing and creating collective practices that honor the legacy of resilience that our families and communities have through ancestral connections. Building Resilience provides healing justice through an array of programs and community partnerships.
Community Care Healing Program (CCHP)
The Community Care Healing Program arose in the summer of 2020 to support the mental, physical and spiritual well-being of racial justice organizers and community members affected by state-sanctioned violence. The program aims to support community members and movement organizers in their healing journey and to foster holistic wellness practices for a sustainable abolitionist movement. Since the fall of 2020, CCHP has served over 175 clients and has worked with 21 healers across Los Angeles.
CCHP works with healers that are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) who offer trauma-informed healing services to BIPOC community members. The healing modalities offered include Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, talk and art therapy, massage, acupuncture, yoga, meditation, energy work, nutrition counseling, and somatic coaching.
If you are part of an organization that would like to use the services provided by CCHP or a healer interested in joining CCHP, please reach out Here.
WELLNESS CLINICS &
RAPID RESPONSE TEAMS
DPN healers are often called upon by the community to organize wellness clinics, rapid responses, marches, rallies, vigils, and social justice campaigns.
Wellness Clinics
Wellness Clinics are held at various times throughout the year in rotating locations based on community needs. These free clinics are led by the Building Resilience team and provide entire communities with wellness services. Community members can visit the clinic and choose which stations they’d like to participate in at their own pace. Healing stations have included: reiki, community acupuncture, divination readings, massage therapy, meditative arts, drum circle, workshops in ayurvedic medicine, medicinal herbs, community altars building, and gardening.
In addition to the above-mentioned modalities, the Wellness Clinics also provide listening stations, food, and DPN Wellness Kits, which include homemade items such as bath salts, teas, salves, aromatherapy spritzers, rollers, and medicine pouches.
Rapid Response Team
Dignity and Power Now is dedicated to building a sustainable crisis response model in which public safety is implemented by the people. DPN’s Health and Wellness plan is to provide traditional and clinical health support as first responders for crises involving mental illness, houselessness, and over-dependence on substances. DPN’s Healers Rapid Response team consists of natural healers trained in the areas of de-escalation, breathwork, listening, acupuncture, mental health, plant medicine, and the arts.
Our team trains impacted families and communities vulnerable to law enforcement violence to be the trauma-informed rapid response healers for their communities. The ultimate goals are to be self-sufficient in responding to crises in our communities, to make our model replicable, and to build strong partnerships with other abolitionist coalitions.
In 2022, DPN Healing Justice partnered with A Peace Builder from South Central Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Compton to provide immediate responses to community crises and mental health emergencies. A Peace Builder is a community safety and wellness partner that is culturally competent and culturally rooted to serve and protect their people without law enforcement and system inclusion. They work the streets to find the best support for young people in need of health, safety, and protection and supportive services for holistic wellness for themselves, their families, and their communities.
FREEDOM HARVEST
Building Resilience:
Our Healers
What started as a summer series in 2014 has grown into a popular year-long program.
Freedom Harvest is intended to disrupt and offer a balm to the traumatizing experience of visiting loved ones in jail. Created by DPN’s Healing Justice team and Building Resilience healers, Freedom Harvest is a monthly pop-up arts and wellness event held outside LA County jail sites. The Dignity and Power Now Building Resilience team of healers, artists, herbalists, organizers, and volunteers provide artistic activities and offer various wellness services. Art and healing stations have included: community acupuncture, massage therapy, reiki, crystal healing, restorative yoga, flower bundles and flower crowns, silk screen printing of abolitionist posters for families, mobile art installations, and live performances. art, poetry reading/writing, a children’s station, community altars, and much more.
Invitation to Healers
Are you experienced in reiki, acupuncture, massage therapy, breathwork, indigenous medicine, medicinal herbs, or gardening? Are you an artist, poet, or musician? Do you have experience working with youth and families? Do you want to help create a healing intervention for families visiting loved ones in LA County jails? We are looking for healers as well as performing artists!
If you want to participate, please email DPN Healing Justice Organizer, Trudy Goodwin
Download the Healing Justice Toolkit
COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
The Dandelion Rising Leadership Institute (DRLI) is a leadership development program geared towards high school aged youth and led by formerly incarcerated organizers. DRLI is dedicated to building the leadership, capacity, and skillset of students affected by mass incarceration and youth survivors of deputy abuse. DRLI prioritizes building the leadership of those directly affected because they have the most insight and the highest stakes invested in changing the system. Communities most affected by sheriff abuse and incarceration – namely Black and Brown communities – have long histories of fighting to end state violence and the DRLI program not only teaches that history but challenges students to participate in the current moment.
DRLI is rooted in Dignity and Power Now’s project the Coalition to End Sheriff Violence and youth members are encouraged to participate in strategizing and give public comment at Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission meetings. The current 6-week DRLI curriculum covers topics including know your rights, the history of Los Angeles neighborhoods and rebellions, mapping elected officials, how to build local power, divestment from jails and reinvestment in communities, and an art and social justice field trip.
Dignity and Power Now has been visiting Los Angeles area learning facilities with DRLI since 2014 including CALO YouthBuild, Firebaugh High School, Dorsey High School, Hawkins High School, and St. Anne’s. Some participation opportunities are also available at the DPN office.
If you want to participate in DRLI please complete this application and mail to the address at the bottom
or email DPN Campaign Lead James Nelson.
If you are a teacher interested in hosting DRLI please contact DPN Campaign Lead James Nelson.
The Forever Rooted Support Group (FRSG) is a group of formerly incarcerated individuals that meets once a month. In this space, folks are encouraged to share how they are doing and support one another through shared experience and peer-to-peer mentorship. Relying on collective wisdom and belief in abolitionist principles, the Forever Rooted Support Group is a space of healing and action. Group leads keep the group informed about ways to plugin further.
Members of the Forever Rooted cohort enjoy this space because it’s the one place where everyone relates to one another, cries and laughs together, and supports each other. In this space, members are provided with political education and empowered to use their voices. The FRSG also creates space to get out into the community to enjoy self-care events including yoga in the park, cookouts in the park, etc. The space is for everyone that has been directly impacted by the carceral system. We prioritize Black and Brown experiences in this space and invite folks of all genders, ages, abilities, and walks of life to join our community.
In order for members to remain strong in the fight against incarceration, Forever Rooted commits to community care and leadership.
APPLY TO THE COHORT
Formerly incarcerated folks are encouraged to apply for the Forever Rooted Cohort first before joining the Support Group.
JOIN THE SUPPORT GROUP
If you have already graduated from the Forever Rooted Cohort program, please email James Nelson to join the Support Group.
PROJECT STOP THE LINES
Project Stop The Lines is a community-based 1:1 mentorship program focusing on the holistic needs of youth aged 13-25 in impacted communities throughout Los Angeles.
Through an integrated combination of staff-led mentorship & PSL peer-group convenings, each PSL youth will inform and direct their engagement pathway building more significant levels of personal, familial, and community-based resilience and power and leadership.
MUTUAL AID
The Mutual Aid Fund was established in March 2020 in response to COVID-19.
Originally called the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund, the program aimed to address the social, economic, and environmental hardships faced by community members residing in California as a result of the pandemic.
Aligned with abolitionist principles, the program now focuses on providing, directly and indirectly, system-impacted people with financial support and essential resources.
Prison institutions have historically and continue to impose violence and oppression on people of color. System-impacted people are often disenfranchised from support programs due to their records, however, DPN’s Mutual Aid program works to empower and uplift our community, and show how we can live among one another without the need for prisons and police.
IMPACT REPORT
individual community members supported from April 2020 till date
1531
888
Rental Assistance delivered
552
Financial Assistance delivered
1468
Supplies delivered
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System impacted members can apply for mutual aid support by completing this application form. Please note that the application closes automatically once capacity is reached. We serve on a first-apply, first-serve basis as requests for mutual aid are in very high demand.
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For all individuals, community partners, organizations, donors, and companies that are interested in providing support to our mutual aid effort to support directly impacted individuals and families in California, you can donate monetarily or provide essential resources via email request at mutualaid@dignityandpowernow.org
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The Mutual Aid team welcomes your feedback! If you have received services from us, have suggestions on how we can improve, or have specific items you and your community are in need of, please fill out our Feedback Form.
MUTUAL AID CONTACT:
Email: For any questions regarding the Mutual Aid program
mutualaid@dignityandpowernow.orgAddress:
3655 S. Grand Avenue Suite 260, Los Angeles, CA 90007
*Please note: There are no funds or supplies available at the DPN office.
For all community partners, organizations, donors, and companies that are interested in providing support to communities in California, there are two options: you can donate monetarily or provide essential resources via email request at emergencyfund@dignityandpowernow.org.