COMMUNITY FUNDRAISER!

Help bring people home from prison!

This May, Parole Prep is launching our first-ever peer-to-peer fundraising campaign to help fund our volunteer programming and parole preparation work. To help us reach our fundraising goal of $75,000, members of the Parole Prep community will work as lead fundraisers to solicit donations from their own networks. Here’s more about what we’re fundraising for:

Since our founding in 2013, Parole Prep has trained over 900 volunteers to work alongside more than 400 people serving life sentences in New York State prisons. Most of those inside have spent more than 25 years behind bars and are in their 60s, 70s and even 80s. Many are in declining health and are eager to return to the families and communities that they left decades ago.

We visit people in prison, talk with them by phone, communicate with family members and loved ones on the outside, and support people in navigating the parole process. We also provide commissary support and send packages to materially support the needs of those inside.

We work together to create advocacy packets that are submitted to the Board of Parole that demonstrate the work and transformation individuals have done while incarcerated and why they should be granted release. We also prepare people for their parole interviews, which are daunting and difficult to navigate. 

We travel from New York City to prisons as far away as the Canadian border- spending weekends driving long hours or traveling by plane, bus or train, staying overnights in hotels and motels. We do this to fight the isolation and intended disappearance of incarcerated people. 

To ensure that program is accessible to everyone, and that there is no financial burden on people in prison, Parole Prep covers all expenses related to travel, communication, printing, postage and more. With nearly 100 current and active cases, Parole Prep spends nearly $100,000 every year on volunteer activities alone. 

We hope you’ll join us in raising funds for these important operations. With your support, we can better advocate for the release of more people serving decades in prison in New York State.