The Kite facilitates creative writing and storytelling workshops for incarcerated youth and adults detained in NYC’s jails and prisons because we believe that telling our truths has the power to heal ourselves and those around us, and that finding our voice can set us free. We strive to create safe spaces on the inside, and support systems on the outside, for students to rehabilitate through the arts so that they can reinvent futures devoid of police contact.
We dream of a day when our jails are run by teachers and not officers, so that court-involved individuals can grow, heal, and break the cycle of trauma, poverty, and systemic oppression, rather than be further traumatized by the dehumanizing conditions perpetuated by mass incarceration. Toward that end, we are laying the foundations for the prison-to-school pipeline and are building towards a residency program where students learn in a stable environment where we aim to reduce the stresses of basic post-release survival needs, while students prepare to take the next steps in their educational, career and personal journeys during a 90-day residency period.
WellMet's grant of $25,000 will be used for general operating support.