Louis D. Brown Peace Institute
Proposal to Framingham State University Nonprofit Giving Course
Mission
The Peace Institute is a center of healing, teaching, and learning for families and communities impacted by murder, trauma, grief and loss.
Programs and Services
Survivors Outreach Services: Provides emotional and practical support for families in the first 24-72 hours after a homicide happens and ongoing advocacy.
Survivors Leadership Academy: Workshop series for family members of murder victims to transform their pain and anger into power and action.
Families of Incarcerated Loves Ones Services: Advocates provide support, guidance, and advocacy to family members whose loved ones have been arrested and incarcerated for murder or attempted murder. Services are available at any point as a family navigates the system, from their loved one’s arrest, through their incarceration, to parole hearings and the re-entry process. We also offer healing workshops and trainings for family members and friends of incarcerated loved ones.
Massachusetts Survivors of Homicide Victims Network: Statewide network of survivors working together to impact, inform, and influence how society sees murder victims and their families.
Survivors of Homicide Victims Awareness Month (November 20-December 20)- A month-long effort to educate the public and policymakers about the impact of murder on families and communities and recognize the diverse contributions of the survivor’s movement.
Mother’s Day Walk for Peace: Annual fundraiser for families across the region to honor the lives of our loved ones who have been killed, celebrate the courage of community, and sustain the Peace Institute’s programs and services.
The Training and Technical Assistance Center (TTAC) – provides training, tools, technical assistance, and professional development to providers and institutional stakeholders so they can serve families impacted by murder equitably and effectively.
Peace from Within: Multi-week course for incarcerated men to learn the foundations of living a peaceful life.
Peace-ing It Together: Training for white allies to deepen their commitment to peacemaking and gain skills to address racism and violence in their own communities.
Request
The Peace Institute humbly requests $10,000 to fund Families of Incarcerated Loved Ones Services.
Our President and Founder Chaplain Clementina Chery developed the model of services from her own experience building a relationship with Doris Bogues, the mother of Charles Bogues who was convicted of killing her son Louis. Chaplain Chery recognized that both mothers experienced trauma, loss, and grief as a result of Louis’ murder. These two women worked together to develop a re-entry plan for Charles when he was up for parole so he could come back to the community without causing or experiencing further harm.
Families in our community cannot be neatly divided into the victim/offender binary. Many people who have caused harm are also survivors themselves. The Peace Institute organically began offering services and support to families of incarcerated loved ones because they are the same families we once served in the aftermath of another loved one’s murder. The families we work with have to see each other not only in court but at the grocery store, the Laundromat, and driving down the same streets. Our programs and services counteract the stigmatization that isolates families, perpetuates trauma across generations, and fuels cycles of violence.
The Peace Institute is requesting funding from Framingham State University Nonprofit Giving Course for Incarcerated Loved Ones Services because more traditional state and private funding streams often restrict grant awards to programs that serve “victims.” In the re-entry field, most funding is directed at incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals, whereas our programming serves the entire family.
The Families of Incarcerated Loved Ones Services program provides support, guidance, and advocacy to family members whose loved ones have been arrested and incarcerated for murder or attempted murder. Services are available at any point as a family navigates the system, from their loved one’s arrest, through their incarceration, to parole hearings and the re-entry process. We also offer healing workshops and trainings for family members and friends of incarcerated loved ones. Families of Incarcerated Loved Ones Services is run by Advocate Janice Johnson.
Activities during the grant period
During the grant period, Families of Incarcerated Loved Ones Services plans to increase the number of families we are serving while sustaining relationships with current families. Since our focus is on families of people arrested and incarcerated for murder and attempted murder, the work is long-term.
Janice Johnson is sustaining a partnership with Northeastern Law School whose students represent prisoners at parole hearings. The law clinic has an extensive wait list, and Janice is doing outreach to all the families of people on the waiting list. Janice is also building a relationship with the Harvard Law School clinic that represents people who are up for parole. Janice is planning a breakfast to build relationships with Superior Court public defenders that represent people arrested for murder and attempted murder.
Janice is also doing community outreach, and receives referrals from families we have served in the aftermath of their loved one’s murder. Due to the shame and stigma imposed on families of incarcerated people, they often express they could not find any other support or services before reaching out to the Peace Institute.
Janice is running monthly Wholistic Healing workshops open to families of incarcerated loved ones which focus on releasing stress and trauma from the mind, body, and spirit.
She is also preparing to roll out a training series in summer 2018 for families of incarcerated loved ones to learn more about how to navigate parole and probation. These trainings will be ongoing and expand to cover more topics related to the criminal justice system.
Short and long term goals
134 people were murdered in Massachusetts in 2016. Research tells us that for every person who is murdered, 8-10 immediate family members are deeply impacted – a total of more than 13,000 people in one year. This number does not include extended family, friends, classmates, and coworkers. It also does not include families of people who are arrested and incarcerated for murder. The way society responds to homicide is often so inadequate it's referred to as "secondary victimization." The Peace Institute meets an urgent need to need to treat all survivors of homicide victims with dignity and compassion while recognizing that families on both sides are deeply impacted. There is no other organization in the Commonwealth who supports families of murder victims through the funeral and burial process.
The Peace Institute’s long term vision is to transform the way society responds to homicide so that all families are treated with dignity and compassion, regardless of the circumstances.
To achieve our goals, the Peace Institute uses the following methodology:
SERVICES – We serve families impacted by murder on both sides with dignity and compassion, regardless of the circumstances. We meet families’ emotional and practical needs in the first 24-72 hours after their loved one’s murder. We also offer ongoing support months and years later to families on both sides. We serve families of incarcerated loved ones for murder and attempted murder from arrest through parole and re-entry.
ADVOCACY – We use our experience and expertise as a survivor-led organization to inform, influence, and impact policy. We also develop protocols and best practices for a coordinated, consistent, and compassionate response to homicide.
TRAINING – We provide training and tools to equip individuals and organizations to implement protocols and best practices to respond equitably and effectively when a homicide happens.
Indicators of Success
The Peace Institute is recognized as the leading homicide response agency in Massachusetts. We provide training and tools to city agencies, fellow community based agencies, the major trauma hospitals in Boston, as well as providers and law enforcement officials across the country. We serve more than 90% of murder victims’ families annually in Boston, as well as families across the state.
The Peace Institute has developed the best practices in the field of homicide response and we’ve shared our methodology through both the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance and the National Office for Victim Assistance. In 2016, the Peace Institute was chosen as a Social Innovator by the Social Innovation Forum for our groundbreaking work in the field of homicide response.
In 2017, the Peace Institute served 49 new families in the immediate aftermath of their loved one’s murder, provided ongoing healing and leadership development opportunities to 162 survivors of homicide victims, delivered training and technical assistance to 65 agencies in Massachusetts, and offered wrap around support to 6 families of people incarcerated for murder.
The Families of Incarcerated Loved Ones Services has a proven track record of positively impacting families. According to our partner Attorney Megan Hiserodt at Northeastern University Law School, “Support for families is such an important part of the re-entry process. My client has been incarcerated for 35 years and if he is ever allowed to go back to his family, it will be a massive change for all of them. I know they are grateful to have these services available as a resource to provide them with a space to learn how they can help their brother as well as just a listening ear who can be there when they have concerns and anxieties about what their future as a family might look like. In addition, having Janice present at my client's parole hearing meant so much to his family. A parole hearing is an incredibly emotional experience and several of my client's sisters spoke to the board in support of their brother. Having Janice behind them gave them an extra feeling that someone was on their side which is such an important feeling in these situations. I look forward to continuing to work with Janice in the months and years to come.”
Sustainability
In April 2017, the Peace Institute hired our first ever full-time Development Officer, Anthony Thomas. Anthony’s primary role is developing and sustaining relationships with individual donors who are or will be monthly sustainers and investors and business owners who will be sponsors. We have dramatically increased our capacity to raise contributions from individual and corporate donors. One example of this is Champions of Peace, our fall 2017 fundraiser which raised over $25,000 plus additional commitments from investors.
The Peace Institute’s most significant fundraiser is the annual Mother’s Day Walk for Peace. The Walk is a celebration of our potential to create more peaceful communities. In 2018 our goal is to raise $400,000. Families of Incarcerated Loved Ones Services will be partially funded from corporate sponsorships and individual donations to the Mother’s Day Walk for Peace.
The Peace Institute also receives significant funding from the state budget, the City of Boston Department of Public Health, and the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance. We also plan to increase fee-for-serve revenue in 2018 and 2019 through our Training and Technical Assistance Center.
Demographics
The Peace Institute predominantly serves low-income families of color in urban neighborhoods – 93% of our clients are Black or Latinx.
Our staff team is made up of survivors who have personal and professional experience and expertise. Our staff team is 75% people of color. Our board members range in age from early twenties to early 80s and are 20% people of color. Our organization has twenty-four years of experience serving families impacted by murder.
Families of Incarcerated Loved Ones Services are run by Advocate Janice Johnson. Janice is a sibling survivor, and her son is incarcerated for attempted murder. She has lived experience on both sides of murder, and received services and support from the Peace Institute in the past to cope with her son’s incarceration. Janice is deeply connected and in tune with the survivor community, fellow family members of incarcerated loved ones, and the recovery community in Boston. Janice is a certified Advocate who has extensive professional experience. Janice recently completed the National Organization for Victim Assistance Academy. She has been licensed as a Holistic and Integrative Health Provider. Janice has also been certified as a Peace Play facilitator. Peace Play is a healing technique for individuals and families to express and reflect on their struggles and strengths by creating scenes using miniature figures in a tray of sand.
Families of Incarcerated Loved Ones Services are overseen by Interim Executive Director Rachel Rodrigues. Rachel has been at the Peace Institute for eleven years and has worked with families in every capacity.