OUR Program

 

Vision Framework

 
 
 

Prison In-reach

Prison In-reach includes communication between inmates and API RISE members through letter-writing, phone calls, and parole hearing preparation (via phone or letter). The inmates API RISE has reached are currently incarcerated in mostly California facilities. In 2022, we plan to conduct an in-reach on-site (in compliance with COVID pandemic safety protocols, which could be virtual). Co-Directors, a Case Manager, and volunteers must be cleared by CDCR before entry. In-reach services shall include (but are not limited to): pre-release reentry preparation; Life Without Parole (LWOP) moral support; API history and culture; and non-religious spiritual formation practices. We plan to launch a newsletter that gives inmates resource information and stories of hope from API RISE members who have “been there.”

We have reached approximately 300 people

 
 

Member & Community Care

Member care includes two-hour monthly support groups (wellness check-ins, discussion topics, leadership opportunities, and community announcements) and culturally sensitive/trauma-informed reentry case management (which may include jail/prison/detention release pick up, comprehensive screening and assessment for housing, psycho-social needs, employment, family reunification, etc.). Unlike government-supported case management programs, API RISE’s program is client-centered, not program-centered. Thus, each service plan is tailored to the individual. We have partnered with Avocet Law Firm to provide legal aid in the areas of immigrant documentation, state pardons, and citizenship applications.

For 2022, The California Endowment (TCE) awarded funds to API RISE to organize three to five workshops designed to dignify, humanize, and de-stigmatize API’s impacted by the carceral system. One to two workshops will focus on family members since a significant number of our community are rejected by their families. Another workshop will engage the API community and broader non API reentry community at large. Another workshop shall be for LA County elected and administrative leadership so that we can expand our public policy advocacy for this often overlooked group of people. We will decide if these workshops will be in-person or virtual, based on the most current LA County Department of Public Health COVID-19 data.

 
 
 

Community Care

Community Care is also managed by Co-Directors who work with a core team of 9-12 people and includes building upon our Black and API Solidarity work. In April of 2020, API RISE co-founded the Black and API Solidarity group with mostly formerly incarcerated/former Black gang members to address the resurgence of tensions between our communities, fomented by pandemic misinformation and hysteria. 

Over this past summer (July - October 2021), we received modest funding support from LA County (Human Relations Commission and the Office of Violence Prevention) for a Black and API YOUTH Solidarity Mural. Approximately six Black and six API youth met to learn about each other’s culture and history through workshops, sharing meals (from locally-owned Black or API eateries, NO corporate or chain restaurants); and painting a Solidarity mural located at AADAP’s Youth and Family Program on Crenshaw Blvd, in the historic Crenshaw/Leimert Park district of South Central. In 2022, we plan to expand this program into other communities, to be determined after we gather input from mural team participants and API RISE members.

 
 
 

Policy Advocacy

Policy Advocacy includes ongoing monitoring of Los Angeles County’s Measure J (Alternatives to Incarceration). Part of why we are conducting the workshops described above is because a) there is very little inclusion of API’s in LA county justice reform conversations, and b) certain LA County departments do not collect nor disaggregate API data, so there remains a dearth of information, ergo, culturally appropriate resources. API RISE is also active in the California Vision Act (AB 937- Carrillo), a two-year bill that will stop the transfer of people being released from jail or prison into ICE detention centers so that they no longer have to serve a second, unwarranted sentence. Co-Directors participate in bi-weekly Vision Act coalition meetings; organize members in local and state advocacy efforts; and in 2022, will provide more extensive advocacy training.

API RISE Has educated approximately 100 people

 
 
 

Social Enterprise

Social Enterprise (SE) is exploring the viability of environmentally sustainable employment opportunities (eg. solar panels, affordable housing using sustainable materials and energy sources); general entrepreneurial skills development for individual members, and as a source of independent revenue for the organization. Other SE possibilities include API reentry housing, culinary arts, and cultural arts. Co-Directors shall hire consultants and organize an Ad Hoc committee to continue research and viability exploration. 

Another aspect of all four focus areas is general visibility. We have partnered with LA-based API theater group  E/W Players; social media group Hate Is A Virus, and we participate in a wide array of general speaking engagements by request. Some of these speaking engagements address the carceral system, immigration, “crimmigration,” and the surge in anti-Asian violence.