Supporting the Children of Incarcerated Parents

The livestream below will begin at the time of the event.

The public debate surrounding our criminal justice system has covered everything from the school-to-prison pipeline to sentencing to reentry. But through all of these discussions, the children who are impacted by their parents’ incarceration are too often overlooked and deprioritized.

Join Next100 on Monday, April 5, at 3:00 PM ET for the release of We Are Not Collateral Consequences: Policy Solutions for CIP, Arrest to Reentry, a report designed to center children impacted by parental incarceration through a series of policy recommendations for local, state, tribal, and federal policymakers. Hear from policymakers and individuals who have been impacted by their parents’ incarceration discuss various issues children of incarcerated parents (CIP) face and what solutions are needed to comprehensively support CIP.

Please register to obtain the Zoom link.

Special Performance by:

• Natalie Harjo, Seminole Nation of Oklahoma

Opening Remarks by:

• Michael Tubbs, founder, Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, special advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) on economic mobility and opportunity, and Next100 advisory board member

Moderated by: 

• Melissa Harris-Perry, Next100 advisory board member, Century Foundation trustee, and Maya Angelou Presidential Chair in Politics and International Affairs, Wake Forest University

Panelists:

• Isabel Coronado, policy entrepreneur, Next100
• Anthony Funes, youth action council member, Osborne Association
• Tony Lewis Jr., actionist, WEGOTUSNOW

Bios

Isabel Coronado is focused on creating policy aimed at reducing the generational cycle of incarceration in Native communities. Isabel has spoken to the public and the media numerous times about the experiences of children of incarcerated parents, and has written on the same. She has worked closely with the Families Integrity Campaign to pass the FAMILIES Act, a federal bill that would keep parents home with their children instead of going to prison. Isabel has worked with the Center for Native American Youth to put together a petition to Congress (that gathered over one thousand signatures) to ensure that Indian Country is accounted for in federal COVID-19 aid packages. She has also continued work in Oklahoma, her home state, co-authoring a response to Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt’s State of State in February to lay down a marker of where the state has succeeded—and where it hasn’t gone far enough—in changing its criminal justice system, and writing about the incarceration crisis facing Native women.

Anthony Funes is majoring in school health education at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. He is an alumnus of the Osborne Association’s Youth Action Council, made up of youth who advocate for policies and practices that support children and youth whose parents are involved in the criminal legal system. Anthony was instrumental in garnering enough votes to pass the Proximity Bill in New York State, which, if signed into law by the governor, would require the state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to place incarcerated parents of minor children in prisons closer to their children. Anthony is a member of the See Us, Support Us (SUSU) youth team, which provides guidance and produces content for SUSU for an annual month of awareness raising about and celebration of children with incarcerated parents that is held every October.

Natalie Harjo is a member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and current council member. Ms. Harjo promotes tribal languages by leading a weekly session to ensure more tribal citizens have access to their language. She currently resides in Seminole, OK with her five children.  

Tony Lewis Jr. is an author, activist, reentry expert, community leader, and champion for children with incarcerated parents. Mr.Lewis has fought relentlessly for the past twenty-one years to empower men, women, and children impacted by mass incarceration. His work and advocacy has been featured on CNN, BET, Elite Daily, The Breakfast Club, Black Enterprise, The Takeaway, Hot 97, and numerous times in The Washington Post. Mr. Lewis’s leadership has powered culture-shifting movements that amplified the hopes and dreams of Black Washingtonians such as DC or Nothing, DC Natives, and Don’t Mute DC. In addition, he has been a leading voice in the national push for criminal justice reform and raising awareness for children with incarcerated parents. Mr. Lewis has been honored and recognized for his work in reentry, social justice, and community organizing both locally and nationally.

Michael Tubbs was elected to serve as the mayor of the City of Stockton, California on November 8, 2016. Upon taking office in January 2017, Michael Tubbs became both Stockton’s youngest mayor and the city’s first African-American mayor. Michael Tubbs is also the youngest mayor in the history of the country representing a city with a population of over 100,000 residents.

Melissa Harris-Perry is the Maya Angelou Presidential Chair and Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Wake Forest University. Professor Harris-Perry is founder and president of the Anna Julia Cooper Center. An award-winning author and sought after public speaker, she has served as a contributing editor for The Nation, Elle.com and ZORA. From 2012 to 2016, she hosted the television show Melissa Harris-Perry on weekend mornings on MSNBC and was awarded the Hillman Prize for broadcast journalism. She is a trustee of The Century Foundation.