We send books to young people in Illinois prisons and jails. In 2021 we began publishing a magazine for and by young people inside. This grant will allow us to pay the stipends of some of the contributors to the magazine—often formerly incarcerated young people, who write columns on life skills, stories they want to share, etc.
The project is led by a steering committee (nine total volunteers who mainly run the books to prisoners end of the project) and the magazine editorial committee which is specifically led by impacted young people (two of the programming leads are formerly incarcerated themselves).