ITHACA, N.Y. — The Multicultural Resource Center (MRC) is working on a collaborative project called Crossing Bridges, which is currently recruiting 16 community participants.
This project, inspired by Ty Williams (currently incarcerated in Auburn Correctional Facility) connects people on the inside of prison with people on the outside to reflect on the New Jim Crow, their personal stories, and then create a book that tells the stories that emerge from this artistic and human collaboration.
Each chapter, which can be a work of fiction, art, poetry, will be created by one person in Auburn Correctional Facility with support from two people living in Tompkins County, with the resulting book being sold to raise money for decriminalization and reentry work.
Goals:
- Build supportive relationships between people incarcerated in Auburn Correctional Facility and people outside living in Tompkins County.
- Honor humanity through creating collaboratively.
- Raise awareness about mass incarceration through literature, culture, and the arts.
- Deconstruct stigmas/stereotypes of incarcerated people
Time Commitment Details
- Project starts in March 2018 and will span for 6 months (Sep. 2018) with opportunity to continue for 1 year.
- Weekly reflection and support gatherings (transportation support available). Note: if weekly gatherings are a barrier, we can collectively arrange a different time format.
- Visits with Auburn partners twice a month (transportation support available).
The Multicultural Resource Center (MRC) is a small grassroots community organization that centers the work of people that are most impacted by systematic oppression and with underrepresented narratives. MRC’s mission is to engage in cultural and systemic transformation by building with our communities to eliminate barriers to racial justice, cultural dignity, equity and inclusion, and indigenous rights.
