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The Good People Fund

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Healing Vulnerable Communities

Witness to Mass Incarceration

Evie Litwok arrived in NYC penniless, homeless and jobless after time in Federal prison. She knows well that establishing a life after incarceration is challenging and frequently defeating, especially for women, LGBTQ+ individuals and others facing systemic and cultural disadvantages and the stigma of having been in in prison.

She used her experience as a social activist – culled from years in the women’s and gay rights movements – to establish Witness to Mass Incarceration to advocate for prison reform, and to help those just released from the penal system move more smoothly back into society.

WMI runs several projects helping those returning to open society as well as those who have been free for
some time and trying to rebuild their lives. The Suitcase Project provides a cellphone, laptop and gift cards to
purchase essential items. WMI’s latest program, The MAP, is a unique online directory of businesses owned by formerly incarcerated individuals.

Our funds underwrite administrative expenses and supermarket gift cards distributed to newly released individuals.

Food Project

It might seem to be all about food, but The Food Project (a program of UEmpower MD), housed in a former elementary school in the blight that is SW Baltimore, is so much more. Instead of the usual reading, writing and ‘rithmetic you expect to be taught there, Michelle Suazo and her small staff and volunteers with expertise in farming, behavioral therapy, public health and social work, focus on bringing hope and culinary skills to local youth who have little about which to be hopeful.

As the pandemic raged around them, programming became virtual and the organization quickly pivoted to provide food and other necessities to this poor neighborhood. The Project prepares and distributes
meals, giving participants on the job experience. They also run a weekly market and offers programs to help
young people cope with the increased emotional stress of the pandemic.

Our funds underwrite the purchase of food and administrative expenses.