The Freedom Project
The Freedom Project is a non-profit oragnization based in Seattle, Washington which strengthens
community through supporting the transformation of prisoners into peacemakers.
We offer trainings in concrete skills of nonviolence leading to reconciliation
with ourselves, our loved ones, and the community. Our work addresses the
healing of relationships ruptured by violence and the forging of community
founded on genuine safety through connection.
Why NVC?
The training model we use, Nonviolent Communication (NVC), with its core concept of
“mindfulness,’ has been proven effective for decades in conflicts around the world.
There is certainly more awareness in our community about how the size and potential
danger today’s massive prison population poses for individuals in our communities and
for our nation’s future. The correctional system is under crushing stress, and there is
an immediate need for outside programs offering innovative and effective solutions.
After dedicating nearly ten years in developing and refining this model specifically
for a prison population, Freedom Project feels that it is in a solid position to make
a significant impact on the violence level inside our prisons and outside in our
communities.
The Challenges We Face
The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world.
Well over two million Americans are currently incarcerated. In our prison system
, anger and frustration are every-day components in the lives of inmates, and the
lives of those who work for the Department of Corrections in the management of
inmates. Violence is rampant, and not just the outward violence experienced
physically by prisoners and those charged to care for them, but also the
violence on the inside of each person as men and women who have never learned
to express their needs Nonviolently twist in the cycle of re-offense and
recidivism, not knowing how respond with compassion and empathy to change
the outcomes of their behaviors. Despite current efforts toward rehabilitation
, education, and training, more much work with innovative models is critically
necessary.
How Can You Help?
Freedom Project needs financial contributions from individuals to accomplish the work that we
do. We receive no State, County, or Federal Funding.
We Offer Real Solutions to Violence
Each year in Washington State alone, prisons release thousands and thousands of former inmates
into our communities with $40 and a bus ticket. Struggling with isolation, poverty, rejection,
homelessness, and unemployment, and often lacking in basic education and life skills, large numbers
of returnees quickly succumb to old strategies to meet physical and emotional needs.
Each day, it
seems, the news brings us tragic stories of violent crimes, some involving former inmates who come
wonder why a decision was made to release them in to society; to paraphrase Dr. Marshall Rosenberg,
founder of Nonviolent Communication: “All violence is a tragic expression of an unmet need.” Freedom Project
works to help people understand how to get their needs met on a mutually satisfying landscape with a foundation
of compassion and empathy.
Freedom Project offers an effective solution by first helping prisoners break the cycle of violence
while they are still incarcerated. Freedom Project offers continued support to inmates after their release from prison
by providing a stable network and ongoing training that allows them to successfully re-enter our communities. This is
a unique arrangement with the Department of Corrections, who adamantly discourage volunteers who have worked in side
of their prisons from having any contact with prisoners once they are released. Freedom Project, in the eyes of the DOC,
is so successful in the service it provides inside the prisons that the organization has been granted not only permission
to have continued contact with inmates upon release, but allowed to provide a community where all returnees are welcome
giving them an opportunity to help support each other in their “violence recovery.” Most of the time former prisoners
are restricted from having contact with other former prisoners.