Day of Gratitude

This Thursday, our country will join together in celebrating a national day of gratitude. Whether you have the opportunity to be surrounded by loved ones and good food, or are spending the day on your own, we join you in reflecting on all that 2016 has brought.

We recognize that this has been a hard year for many across our community of formerly incarcerated people (FIP) and those directly impacted by the criminal justice system, and beyond. Perhaps you will be observing the holidays while incarcerated, or without an incarcerated loved one by your side. Whether serving time on a wrongful conviction or paying the debt that a broken system has deemed necessary for a crime you did commit, we know how challenging incarceration is for both the person inside and the people they are forced to leave behind on the outside. Perhaps the election results did not leave you feeling like you have much to be proud of as an American this holiday season. Perhaps you are disheartened by racial injustice and that so much of our country does not view it as a needed point of change. Perhaps environmental protection and the treatment of our indigenous brothers and sisters brings you sadness, or anger. Perhaps you are fearful that our nation may soon reverse decades of progress, that true equality in our nation now seems further away and harder to achieve, that human rights recently deemed basic and necessary may be rescinded. Perhaps you are suffering more personal hardships and disappointments. We stand with you.

But we also work hard to stay focused on the positive. Here are some of the achievements that we have to be thankful for this year:

• VOTE joined more than 500 people at the national gathering of the Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted People and Families Movement (FICPFM) in Oakland - the largest group yet. Together we shared knowledge and brainstormed solutions to mass incarceration.
• We filed a lawsuit to get voting rights back to 70,000 people in Louisiana under community supervision, and that suit is moving forward against the Secretary of State.
• We grew our staff to the biggest it's ever been — we are now 9 employees strong, more than half of whom are FIPs.
• We launched an incredible outreach and education campaign, the Louisiana Campaign for Democracy, to engage everyone across the state in criminal justice reform.
• We ended New Orleans' blanket ban in public housing against families with associated criminal records, creating a pathway to reentry and sustainable communities. Our advocacy and coalition-building convinced the Housing Authority of New Orleans to reform the discriminatory policy. The federal department of Housing and Urban Development has lifted this up as a model policy across the country.
• We provided powerful written and oral testimony for task forces, public education, government agencies, and the state legislature on dozens of topics related to criminal justice.
• We moved into an awesome new office space that houses other local organizations and groups doing good work and provides us with event space, meeting rooms, and a collaborative working environment.
• We engaged 10 students from Bard College in New York in our summer canvassing efforts, at least two full classes at Tulane in hands-on marketing efforts, and many more young people through Get Out the Vote and educational outreach efforts.
• We joined the governor at the bill signings for Ban the Box and Parole Reform, a huge sign of where we're headed as an organization and as a movement.
• We re-did our website and our logo (and we think they're super cool)!
• We established an entire, separate 501(c)(4) sister organization that will allow us to be more actively involved in the political sphere (roll-out coming soon!).
• Our Executive Director, Norris Henderson, received the Leading with Conviction Award from Just Leadership USA this fall.
• We showed up, shared our knowledge, and presented our successes at dozens of conferences, meetings, trainings, and events across the country.
• We co-hosted the Southern Regional Convening to build capacity toward ending mass incarceration in the South
• We built and grew a number of beautiful, thriving partnerships with coalitions and individuals doing amazing work, like the Louisiana Prison Education Coalition, the Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition, the Power Coalition, and the Solitary Gardens Project.
• We won more grants and received more donations this year than we ever have in the past, growing our momentum and paving the path to a successful year ahead.

While we, too, find ourselves with many battles to fight and loses to mourn in 2016, we are incredibly grateful for the good that this year brought to us, to our community, to the country, and even to the world. We hope that you, too, find joy and success to celebrate this Thursday.