local people power
We know that building local, state and national people power is essential to the work that we do. We do this at the local level primarily through our New Orleans VOTE chapter. At the chapter's monthly member meetings, formerly incarcerated people and allies gather to share their stories, discuss ideas for policy reform, and create agendas for bringing those reforms to light.
We are an integral member of Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition, a local group of individuals and organizations that aims to improve the conditions of the local jail and prevent local policymakers from expanding it. Through this coalition we help people like our city councilmembers understand that criminalizing people for being poor or Black, for example, does not increase public safety.
statewide people power
In addition to our New Orleans chapter, VOTE recently expanded to include chapters in Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Shreveport. These chapters also have monthly member meetings, during which both local and statewide initiatives to improve the lives of formerly incarcerated people and their families are discussed. If you or a loved one are in one of these areas, contact us to join the chapter.
In 2016, Gov. John Bel Edwards to recommend ways for fewer people to be in prison, and reinvest cost savings into programs that reduce recidivism. VOTE joined with other reform-minded organizations and people to create a new coalition to educate the task force: Louisianans for Prison Alternatives. VOTE and members of this statewide coalition share insights, data, and experiences regarding what we need to change.
VOTE is a member of the Power Coalition, which is building a statewide People’s Agenda to focus on the critical social and economic justice issues affecting people of color and low-income families in Louisiana.
Those issues include: Criminal and Juvenile Justice, Access to Quality Healthcare, Public Education, Job Access, Women’s Rights, Housing, Transportation and Environmental Justice.
Those issues include: Criminal and Juvenile Justice, Access to Quality Healthcare, Public Education, Job Access, Women’s Rights, Housing, Transportation and Environmental Justice.
VOTE is an integral member of the Unanimous Jury Coalition (UJC), a bipartisan group of more than 30 local, state and national organizations whose aim is to pass a unanimous jury law in the state. At present, Louisiana is the only state where people can be convicted with a non-unanimous jury. On November 6, voters statewide followed the leadership of the UJC and ended the unjust practice of non-unanimous juries. Learn more.
national people power
Through national conversations around voting rights, drug policy reform, and employment discrimination, several formerly incarcerated organizers, including VOTE's Executive Director, Norris Henderson, and Deputy Director, Bruce Reilly, began developing an informal professional network. This group, known as the Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted People & Families Movement, shares best practices and amplifies messages across the nation about the movement to end mass incarceration, which those most directly impacted must lead. We demand that federal politicians advocating for reforms either consult us or give us a seat at the table.
In October 2015, FICPFM leaders (pictured here), along with the support of John Legend and Color of Change, delivered 130,000 petitions calling on President Obama to Ban the Box. A week later he did.
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In September 2016, the first FICPFM national conference was held, with representatives from 35 states. Watch the highlights.
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