UAHERS 2023 Annual Report

Co-Founder & Executive Director

Aminah is a Black feminist, prison abolitionist, legal/policy advocate, and researcher with years of experience managing programs, leading policy advocacy work around criminal justice, and driving participatory action research initiatives.

Aminah is the co-founder and Executive Director of Unapologetically HERS, Healing Experiences through Research Solutions, co-organizer with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners and Survived and Punished, independent consultant, and researcher.

Aminah is skilled at building relationships with local and national community-based organizations, policymakers, and system partners. Aminah is committed to centering incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women of color, and comes to this work with a gender-specific lens. She holds a bachelor’s degree in legal studies from the University of California, Berkeley and is the co-author of Criminal Record Stigma in the College-Educated Labor Market.

info@unapologeticallyhers.org

Board Member / Community Researcher

Cleo is a proximate leader, organizer, and researcher with a passion for systems change. Cleo’s personal experiences with disproportionate sentencing drives her work toward policy change, centering discriminatory sentencing and racial, gender, and reproductive justice.

Cleo is a founding member of Unapologetically HERS, an organization that seeks to expand access to information flows and illuminate pathways that lead to knowledge creation, self-empowerment, liberation, and abolition. Cleo is also an enthusiastic member of the inside LWOP Support group where she serves in a leadership capacity. Cleo is a trained facilitator of the Offender Mentor Program, Healing Trauma, Survivors of Incest & Rape, Beyond Violence, and a certified Domestic Violence advocate.

Cleo dedicates her time and knowledge supporting peers experiencing language barriers with parole board preparation help. Despite being faced with a life without parole (LWOP) sentence, Cleo is committed to developing collective efficacy in order to become a productive and safe member of society again.

Cleo is currently completing her associate’s degree with Merced College in both Psychology and Social Behavior and plans to use her expertise to drive criminal legal reform.

Central California Women’s Facility, Chowchilla, CA

Legal Advocate

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Peer Support / Thought Partner

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Community Researcher

Gaby is an enthusiastic and passionate soul who is always willing to serve and inspire change. An advocate, community researcher, and facilitator, Gaby is a courageous woman who is strengthened and sustained by her desire to improve the circumstances of all those impacted by the beast of incarceration.

Gaby was sentenced to 25 years to life and for the past 19 years has used every opportunity to educate, restore, and give back to her community and peers. Gaby loves to volunteer her time keeping her community clean by recycling and litter removal. She also teaches aerobics classes, translates curriculum for the Spanish speaking community, and mentors young lifers learning to navigate the prison environment and critical life changes.

Gaby currently facilitates a Life Scripting group where she guides and empowers her peers to dream and be determined to transform their “messes into messages of resilience” and is a Community Researcher in partnership with Unapologetically HERS, Healing Experiences through Research Solutions, where she organizers to uplift the voices or her peers and fights to see more people being resentenced and released.

Central California Women’s Facility, Chowchilla, CA

Co-Founder / Board Secretary

London is an organizer and producer with experience in organizing, creating and executing organizational social media strategies. In 2019 London was selected as a 2019 Elder Freeman Policy Fellow with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC) where her skills and contributions led to the creation of LSPC’s first 2020 Communications Fellowship before her departure. London is currently an organizer with Faith In Action Bay Area, where she address economic dignity, health care, mass incarceration, and immigrant justice. As a formerly incarcerated woman, London utilized her time spent inside of federal prison facilitating women’s empowerment classes and penning her novel The Price You Pay. London has extensive experience in acting and the arts, and has competed in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s ACT-SO monologue, attended the American Musical Dramatic Academy, and volunteered at the American Black Film Festival. London is a passionate impact storytelling strategist, Co-Founder and Board Secretary of Unapologetically HERS.

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Community Researcher

Erica Olson is a systems chance advocate, striving to change the inequality that permeates the criminal legal system. Erica uses her voice to fight for those who do not have the ability or the knowledge to do so themselves. She also uses her voice and leadership in the position of an IAC representative to ensure that her peers are treated fairly.

Erica’s journey in creating change is one that is important to her. She strongly believes that incarcerated people have the ability to transform their own lives by repairing, healing, and educating one another.

Erica has been incarcerated for 30 years on a Life Without Parole sentence. Throughout the years, Erica has worked diligently to educate herself by engaging in numerous self help groups such as, AWARE, LOVE, Healthy Relationships, and Anger Management. Erica loves to learn and is generous with her peers by passing on her experiences and knowledge in the hope that they too can be on a healthy path forward. Erica is involved in community outreach and research projects such as Gifted Hands, The Pillowcase Dress Project, Comfort Care, and Participatory Action Research Leadership Program. These programs allow Erica to be of service and to give back to the community both inside and outside the prison walls.

Central California Women’s Facility, Chowchilla, CA

Founding Member

Wendy is an advocate, researcher, and systems change agent who is currently serving an LWOP sentence at Central California Women’s Facility. She has been incarcerated for the last 10 years and during this time, Wendy has strived to gain insight through self-help groups such as codependency, Beyond Violence, Denial Management, Domestic Violence, AWARE, and several others. She is also pursuing her associates degree.

Through Wendy’s journey to gain insight, she learned how her core beliefs were formed and how they influenced her decisions that led to her incarceration. Wendy has used her past traumas of sexual abuse, intimate partner violence, and childhood trauma to educate and encourage her peers.

In addition to educating people within her community, Wendy works with an urban school in the Bay Area where she educates the younger generation about the effects of violence, injustices within the criminal legal system, mass incarceration, and other areas in need of systemic change.

Wendy has also prided herself on gaining a voice, allowing her to advocate for people in her community that cannot advocate for themselves. She has served her community through the capacity of an Inmate Advisory Council, or IAC, representative as well as working with outside organizations such as Survived & Punished, the California Coalition for Women Prisons, and Unapologetically HERS.

Wendy looks forward to continuing her path in helping her community and inspiring positive change..

Central California Women’s Facility, Chowchilla, CA

Community Researcher

Vegas Bray is an advocate for criminal justice reform, systems change, and support for those who wish to direct their internal pain and anger into a healthy outlet in order to promote necessary changes inside and outside of her community.

Vegas is currently incarcerated in the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF), serving a sentence of 50 years to life and is a facilitator of Healing Trauma, Beyond Violence, FACE-IT, and  Felons Against Distracted and Drunk Driving (FADD).

Vegas is dedicated to giving back to others and providing resources to help prevent repeated mistakes. As a Community Researcher with Unapologetically HERS, Vegas plans to continue her extensive research into policy reforms and the identifying the barriers that stand in the way of incarcerated peoples freedom. Elevating these challenges from inside the prison and speaking to individuals about the importance of decarceration is central to her and she believes confirms the importance of participatory action research.

Vegas is committed to gaining knowledge and being an advocate for those who fear that their voices will not be heard.

Central California Women’s Facility, Chowchilla, CA

Founding Board Member

Arlene Dugmore (she/her/hers), is a mother, grandmother, advocate and mentor for incarcerated women struggling with Intimate Partner Battering and the criminalization of survival. Arlene holds an Associates Degree in Liberal Arts & Humanities and a Certificate of Specialization in Entrepreneurial Business Planning from Feather River College. She is a facilitator of anger management and family  relationships, and has supported numerous other programs centering empowerment. Arlene has served as a representative on the prison advisory committee, where she was tasked with representing the interest of her peers to the prison administration. Currently serving a sentence of life without parole, Arlene is a leader who motivates and activates her community, and is a Founding Board Member of Unapologetically HERS.

California Institute for Women, Corona, CA

Co-Founder & Executive Director

Daniela is an activist of color impacted by mass incarceration and community violence. An Oakland native, Daniela is pursuing her Masters degree in Social Work at the University of California Berkeley. She currently serves as the program consultant for the Berkeley Underground Scholars and is both a member and leader within the Underground Scholars Initiative community. Previously, Daniela was a Case Management Supervisor at Community & Youth Outreach,  where she supported youth and young adults in Oakland towards healthy participation with their families and communities through coaching, system navigation, advocacy, and connection to needed resources. Daniela is currently a Perez Fellow at Bright Research Group, a Certified Life Coach, Co-Founder and Board Treasurer of Unapologetically HERS.

info@unapologeticallyhers.org

Founding Member

Robert Elster is the Director of Youth Development with Alternative Restorative Communities whose goal is to reduce the racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system through the use of restorative practices. Robert is also the Residential Manager with Creating Restorative Opportunities and Programs (CROP) where he provides a holistic, human-centered experience to justice-involved individuals and their families at their Career Campus. Robert has over 20 years of lived experiences and a proven track record of successfully building trust and rapport with at-risk youth and adults, incarcerated individuals, and unhoused community members.  He is a skilled mentor and facilitator of group/individual counseling sessions through restorative principles. Robert is also a trained facilitator on de-escalation and conflict resolution and has participated in Victim Awareness Education Group, or VOEG. Robert holds a certificate in Business, several trade certifications,  is passionate about giving back to the community, and is a founding member and Coach with Unapologetically HERS.

info@unapologeticallyhers.org