Community Connection

I have worked and volunteered in a variety of educational and advocacy capacities with incarcerated Nova Scotians for nearly five years, and have close friends who have directly experienced and been impacted by incarceration. I co-founded and direct the Burnside Prison Education Program, a registered not-for-profit adult educational initiative that offers courses taught by faculty from local universities, literacy tutoring, book clubs, art programs, and employment skills training at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility. I also work closely with a number of other prisoner advocacy organizations in the Maritimes and across Canada, including the East Coast Prison Justice Society.

What do you hope to achieve?

The most exciting aspect of this experience will be the opportunity to employ an asset-based, community-driven approach to working with currently and formerly incarcerated persons in urban and rural Nova Scotia to acquire and maintain meaningful employment. I am looking forward to developing meaningful bridges of solidarity across communities, institutions, and struggles in service of the twin projects of decolonization and prison abolition.