As BPI alumni return home, many have taken up advocacy work in New York and beyond. BPI is committed to supporting alumni advocacy through training and connections to other alumni and organizations leading vibrant advocacy work.
Communities Not Cages
Patrick Stephens ’19 is a lead advocate for Communities Not Cages, a grassroots campaign fighting for sentencing reform in New York. The coalition is calling to: eliminate mandatory minimum sentences, including New York’s two- and three-strike laws; allowing incarcerated people to apply for a resentencing hearing after they have served, and; strengthen and expand “good time” and “merit time” laws under the Earned Time Act to encourage personal transformation in prison and reunite families.
Lilac House
Responding to the lack of transitional housing in New York’s Westchester County, Pamela Zimba ’17 founded The Lilac House, a safe and stable residence for formerly incarcerated women. Beyond housing, Pamela is building a supportive community and connecting them with area resources. The Lilac House is a member of Susan Burton’s A New Way of Life Safe Housing Network.
#CloseRikers
Since 2016, Darren Mack ’13 has been an outspoken advocate and organizer for the Close Rikers Campaign. In 2020, Darren Co-Founded and is Co-Director of Freedom Agenda, a member-led project, dedicated to organizing people and communities directly impacted by incarceration to achieve decarceration and system transformation. Freedom Agenda is leading the charge to close the Rikers Island jail complex.
From BPI to MBA
In spring 2023, BPI alumna Stacy Burnett became the first formerly incarcerated person to earn an MBA at Bard. Stacy is a 2021 BPI Public Health Fellow, completing a research project titled Public and Environmental Health Effects of Single-Use Plastics in the NYSDOCCS Food Delivery System. Throughout COVID, Stacy was a Community Engagement Specialist for New York City’s contract tracing program. Stacy is currently the Senior Product Manager at ITHAKA and Manager at JSTOR, where she works with higher education providers and government agencies to make JSTOR available to people in prison.
All of Us
Working across the Capital Region of New York, Shawn Young ’19 leads All of Us, a grassroots community organization he co-founded that is dedicated to Black Liberation and an end to all forms of oppression and exploitation. They provide free leadership development workshops and political education and organizing skills workshops, creating space and opportunity to hear from those in local communities, providing them information and asking questions to facilitate the development of solutions that will best fit, and come from, the communities that are most marginalized and oppressed.
Art & Advocacy
Russel Craig ’22 is an alumnus of Bard at BPL Microcollege and a self-taught artist. Dark Reflections at Malin Gallery was Craig’s first solo exhibition in New York City. His work is part of the permanent collection at the Brooklyn Museum and has been featured in institutional exhibitions including Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration at MoMA PS1; an installation at the Philadelphia African American Museum, and; Blood, Sweat, and Tears, his first solo exhibition, at Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens. Craig co-founded Right of Return, USA, the first national fellowship dedicated to supporting formerly incarcerated artists.