News
September Highlights
Highlights of our staff and program accomplishments throughout September.
- Tomorrow, See Us, Support Us (SUSU) kicks off its annual month of awareness-raising for children of incarcerated parents. This year, we mark the 20th anniversary of the Children of Incarcerated Parents’ Bill of Rights, which presents eight rights to ensure the well-being of children whose parents are arrested or incarcerated. In 2005, the Rights to Realities platform was issued, outlining action steps to implement each one. These groundbreaking documents were developed by the San Francisco Partnership for Children of Incarcerated Parents based on their work with children and families. Throughout October, SUSU will host events, elevate youth voices, offer tools, and create community, including a conversation on WBAI Radio’s On the Count later this month and a Youth Listening Session on October 27. Activities like the SUSU youth art contest and social media connections offer ways for young people and allies to get involved. Visit the SUSU website to learn more and sign up for the SUSU newsletter to join the community.
- On a recent Sunday afternoon, a group of residents from Osborne’s Marcus Garvey Supportive Housing program (pictured above) attended a moving performance of The Brothers Size at The Shed. A restaging of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play on its 20th anniversary, the work was described by The New York Times as a meditation on “the very real and very prescient themes of Black incarceration, brotherhood and masculinity.” We are grateful to The Shed for providing this opportunity to our growing community of supportive housing residents. Osborne is now accepting applications for Marcus Garvey II, which will provide 88 additional units to formerly incarcerated older adults.
- In other housing news, it has been six months since the final Osborne resident moved into The Rise, a new 70-unit building where we provide supportive services for 10 formerly incarcerated men who live in community with formerly incarcerated women served by Women’s Prison Association. Our residents, who are largely Black men who have experienced a combined 70 years of incarceration, are actively participating in our Motivational Monday events and programming nearby at Marcus Garvey.
- Three months after the Child Sensitive Arrest law went into effect in New York State, Osborne was back in Albany leading the way to share strategies for its implementation at the annual New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services’ Public Safety Symposium. Albany Police Chief Brendan Cox, retired NYPD Deputy Chief Lourdes Soto, and Osborne’s Tanya Krupat co-presented on how to reduce the traumatic impact of witnessing parental arrest on children, consider children’s perspectives and developmental needs during interactions, and see this growing movement as a way to advance the mission of law enforcement.