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The Good People Fund

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New York

Witness to Mass Incarceration

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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.

Connections Mentor

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“He was the only adult who really knew me anymore and the only one who wasn’t paid to care about me,” says Tommy, a teenager in the child welfare / juvenile court system. “He helped me open my first bank account … taught me how to go grocery shopping and helped me learn about health insurance and other adult stuff.” When Paul Muratore founded Connections, Tommy’s words were exactly what he’d dreamed of.

Paul, a longtime mentor to at-risk teens, retired in 2016 and followed his dream to start a program for kids just like Tommy: kids who’ve aged out of the foster care or welfare system and are in need of guidance and friendship. Since then, more than 130 youths have established deep relationships of a year or more with their mentors, even throughout the pandemic. Together, they’ve proven that when someone cares, anything is possible.

Our funds underwrite administrative expenses.