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War On Drugs Clock

The National Employment Law Project has updated their publication on the movement to Ban the Box across the country.

Major U.S. Cities and Counties Adopt Hiring Policies to Remove Unfair Barriers to Employment of People with Criminal Records

Urban areas across the United States (including Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and St. Paul) have limited discrimination in city and county jobs against people with criminal records. As Mayor Richard Daley explained when he announced Chicago's new hiring policy, "Implementing this new policy won't be easy, but it's the right thing to do... We cannot ask private employers to consider hiring former prisoners unless the City practices what it preaches."

Coincident with increased incarceration in the United States, urban communities are absorbing growing numbers of people with criminal records who are now struggling to find work and become reintegrated into their communities. More cities are... (click here to read the full report)

Do you believe there is
A Better Way?

Dear Members and Friends,

A Better Way Foundation (ABWF) is excited to celebrate Ten Years of institutional changes through civic engagement in Connecticut.  Our success is based on hard work and donations from supporters like yourself. 

In 2003, ABWF made resources available to grassroots organizations allowing them to have a greater role in criminal justice policy-making.  As a result, public safety has increased through public health and prison reform efforts. We continue to function as a research engine and an expert in democratic revitalization for allies, political officials, constituents, and various organizations throughout Connecticut. Starting in 1999, we facilitated a public education and policy advocacy strategy that created important changes in Connecticut’s drug policies. For every dollar spent on drug treatment in the community, the public receives $6 to $7 in benefits from decreased crime, decrease cost of incarceration, stable employment, and more, according to Justice Policy Institute 2008 report.

Drug Policies affect everyone in Connecticut from newborns to our seniors.  Due to budget cuts, resources have been taken away from education, transportation, housing, treatment, and prescription drug support.  Those resources are currently being used to fund a public safety platform that ruins our communities and families.  It is time to do something new!  It is time for a holistic strategy for Connecticut! Donate today if you believe there is A Better Way!

Be part of the 2010 “I Own It” Family
“I Own It” Family members are individuals who take ownership of ABWF mission by financially supporting our work.
With your donation you will receive an ABWF wristband, email alerts, and quarterly newsletters packed with information you can share with others. Donations of $25 or more will also receive 2009 “Speak Up and Speak Out” advocacy toolkit.

Thanks for supporting and making A Better Way in Connecticut,

LaResse Harvey, BSW
Policy Director
A Better Way Foundation

10 Accomplishments and More

1. Successfully advocated for the nation’s second Racial Impact Studies legislation (2009).
2. Released Law and Justice Commission Speak Up! Speak Out! Advocacy Toolkit (2009).
3. Supported the passage of the Ban The Box ordinance in 3 cities/towns: Norwich, Hartford, and New Haven (2009).
4. Participated in the North Hartford Coalition to keep two Hartford local libraries open: Mark Twain and Blue Hills (2008).
5. Creation of ABWF Law and Justice Commission (A resident led research project - 2008).
6. Successfully passed Medical Marijuana legislation in House and Senate. (2007) Gov. Rell vetoed.
7. Fought for Pardons Reform Access to include 3 additional Pardons and Parole Board meetings (2006), funding for the Connecticut Pardons Team (a nonprofit organization that helps people through the pardon application process (2007), and the Creation of a year round Pardons and Parole Board (2008).
8. Organized a statewide campaign that resulted in the elimination of the disparity in crack and powder cocaine sentencing laws (2005).
9. Supported the Overdose Prevention bill that allows physicians the right to dispense and prescribe Naloxone (a medication that prevents heroine overdose) without fear of prosecution (2004).
10. Advocated in collaboration with many groups to pass landmark prison-overcrowding legislation that helped reverse the growth of Connecticut’s prison population; establish Building Bridges and much more.

10 Reasons To Support Us:

 You will be part of a national campaign to reform drug policy and criminal justice issues

1. You will support important Policy changes that can affect thousands of lives
2. Your donation is tax-deductible
3. You are not just a member… You’re FAMILY
4. You can help to develop tomorrow’s leaders today
5. You will be helping your family, neighbor, and community
6. You support the on-going work YOU believe in
7. You support free research and educational forums through Connecticut
8. You can see, hear, or read your donation at work
9. Your help will provide free public education for community, civil rights, public, labor and religious leaders

10 Ways You Can Help ABWF Raise $100,000 in 10 Months:

Become an “I Own It” Family Member:  Make checks to A Better Way Foundation and put “I Own It” in the memo area. 

1. Community Supporter: $10 - $20
2. Basic Donor: $25 - $50
3. Event Conveners: $75 - 100
4. Bronze: $110 - $200
5. Silver: $210 - $500
6. Gold: $510 - $1,000
7. Platinum: $1,010 – $5,000
8. Diamond: $5,010 - $10,000
9. Pledge: ________________ In the name of ______________________
10. Birthday Donation  Amount  ________________ In the name of ______________________

Click here to view this as a pdf.

 

A Better Way Foundation is a 501c3 and you can also make donations online:

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A Better Way Foundation (ABWF) is a Connecticut-based organization dedicated to shifting current drug policy from a paradigm that prioritizes incarceration to one that prioritizes public health, treatment and public safety. ABWF engages in research, education, advocacy and organizing in order to enable progressive drug policy reform and criminal justice agendas. ABWF develops and trains future activists of the drug policy, criminal justice reform and public safety communities by using organizing principles with a focus on resident and community empowerment.

ABWF’s local and national work is governed by the following ethics, beliefs and principles:

• We do not do for others what they can do for themselves.
• People directly affected by the issue are the best representatives.
• Organizing thrives when new knowledge is built and existing knowledge is analyzed and criticized.
• Targeted direct action and occupying political spaces are forms of communication.
• Employing existing networks are just as valuable as establishing new networks.
• Measuring success through leadership development and victories around an issue.

Despite its reputation as a progressive state, Connecticut not only has one of the highest incarceration rates of all Northeastern states, the state justice system also leads the nation in racial disparities. ABWF’s work was borne of the need to resist reactionary public policies that have resulted in the incarceration of tens of thousands of Connecticut citizens for drug offenses and nonviolent crimes.

Overdose Prevention

Save a Child!
Support Overdose Prevention

In 2004, ABWF organized the Alliance Connecticut (Alliance CT), a coalition with over 2,300 members work on public education and policy advocacy strategy that created important changes in Connecticut’s drug and criminal justice policies emphasis on improving public safety through public health.
Drug Policies impinge on everyone in Connecticut from our children to our seniors. Resources are taken away from education, transportation, housing, treatment, prescription drug support to fund a public safety platform that ruins our communities and the lives of so many families. It’s time to do something new! It time for a holistic strategy for Connecticut!

Did You Know?
• 147 of 168 Connecticut towns reported overdose deaths; highest occurrences in Litchfield, Windham and Middlesex counties (survey done by Yale School of Public Health-YSPH)
• 39% of overdose deaths involve prescription drugs i.e. hydrocrodone, oxycodone and methadone-YSPH
• Prescription opiod deaths increased from 2.9% to 21.9% YSPH
• Naloxone (Narcan) is a prescription drug that can prevent overdose deaths
• 2003 Public Act 03-159 protects doctors from any liability who prescribe Naloxone to substance abuse patients

What Do We Want?
• Extend protection for Naloxone use to parents, caregivers, and non-patients
• Extend Naloxone prescription to non-addicted patients
• Protect individuals who call 911 for overdose deaths from prosecution if illegal drugs and/or paraphernalia are present
• To have Naloxone packaged similar to the Epi-pen for safe distribution
• To have Naloxone prescribe when opiod drugs are given as pain relievers
• Help grandparents, parents, family and friends sleep better at night by providing them with another tool
(click here to view in pdf)

Speak Up! Speak Out

Executive Summary

For close to a decade, A Better Way Foundation has worked to eliminate barriers everyday people face when participating in the legislative process. From organizing lunches, tours, meet your legislator and lobby days at the Capitol, A Better Way strategies to demystify the legislative process has engaged and oriented thousands to feel and act part of the legislative process.

Speak Up! Speak Out! is another step in the direction of bringing the legislative process closer to its citizens. Speak Up! Speak Out! was commissioned by the A Better Way Law and Justice Commission and designed to do three things: inform on the multiple ways mass incarceration and the war on drugs is crippling society, present an advocacy tool kit that if followed, will guide you to build a successful legislative advocacy campaign and inform people on how to navigate the Capitol and the Legislature. Unlike its predecessor that was graciously compiled by a University of Connecticut School of Social Work class in 2005, Speak Up! Speak Out! represents voices of people in the great State of Connecticut. When people found that Speak Up! Speak Out! was being put together and that it would reflect the lives of everyday people; stories, testimonies and poems were submitted to the A Better Way offices. Although not all of these stories and testimonies were published, the spirit behind the stories is represented.

Chapter 1 of Speak Up! Speak Out! titled Important Facts You Need to Know reflects the hard work of the Law and Justice Commission. After a year of research and discussions, the Law and Justice Commission identified what they believe are the top 5 issues that speak to what many believe is the moral failures of our time, which is mass incarceration and the war on drugs. In this chapter, you will learn issue by issue, what’s going on in Juvenile Justice, Incarcerating the Mental Ill, Harm Reduction, Drug Policy, and Public Safety. Also in this section, you will read personal stories of people impacted by these issues. The fact sheets and personal stories are not only designed to inform but to empower with statistics, facts and personal experiences that give a total picture of the problem.

Chapter 2 of Speak Up! Speak Out! is titled Advocacy Tool Kit. This chapter is a step by step guide of how to put together a political campaign to influence your legislator. In addition to the step by step approach, this chapter is equipped with helpful information on the how to’s. How to write a letter to your legislator, how do you communicate face to face with your legislator and how to contact and engage the media are just a few examples.

Chapter 3 of Speak Up! Speak Out! is titled From the Community to the Capitol. This Chapter should be seen as an orientation to the Capitol and Legislative Office Building. People that go to the Capitol or Legislative Office Building often get disempowered because the lingo is difficult to understand. Acronyms, legislative terminology and the structure and format of meetings and voting are daunting for anyone. In this chapter, not only will you be introduced to how to get the Capitol, you will also have access to the glossary of terms and voting procedures needed to help you understand what’s going.

In closing, Speak Up! Speak Out! makes it clear. Whether you are interested in one or all of the issues identified, Speak Up! Speak Out! is a road map to justice for all.

Click here to download the booklet

 

Send a letter to your elected officials!
Click on the above link to quickly and easily write and send an e-mail to your elected officials in Connecituct. You can choose from a preformatted letter that we have made available about key policy issues currently before the Connecticut General Assembly or, write your own.

Get involved and let your voice be heard.

If you believe that the current "war on drugs" policies are as miscalculated and unjust as we do, then get involved.

Here are several ways you can get involved:

1. Sign up to receive action alerts and other informational e-mail from A Better Way Foundation Connecticut by contacting Lorenzo at abwf1991@gmail.com.
2. Educate yourself on the issue.
   Click the Legislative Priorities link to read more about medical marijuana, sentencing disparity and other issues here in Connecticut..
3. Let others know about the issue
   E-mail your friends, family and co-workers and let them know about this web site and ask them to sign up to get alerts.
4. Let us know what is going on.
   Although we might like to, we can't be everywhere to read every article or see every television show. If you read a newspaper article or listen to a television show, forward the article to us at ABWF or call to let us know what you heard on the television show.
5. Invite ABWF to speak to your school, Church, classroom, group, work place, professional network, and/or house meeting about "war on drugs" policies and ways to make a difference in Connecticut.
6. Tell your story.
   If you are negatively impacted by current war on drug policies, write your testimony and send it to us. Are you a patient who wants to use medical marijuana for medical purposes? Do you know someone in prison on an inflated drug charge? Can you not find a job because of your felony drug record?
7. Volunteer.
   Volunteer to make phone calls, write op-ed article to newspapers, help organize meetings and make presentations.

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All Contents © 2005, A Better Way Foundation, New Haven, Connecticut, USA