Our Story
Since 1999, Voices from Inside (VFI) has offered workshops for women who are incarcerated and formerly incarcerated. This work has expanded to include women in recovery since 2010.
VFI writing workshops use the Amherst Writers and Artists method developed by Pat Schneider and described in her book: "Writing Alone and with Others". In these workshops, participants receive encouragement and support for their writing, gain self-confidence as they strengthen their literacy and communication skills, and begin to imagine new possibilities for themselves.
An important part of our work involves training previously incarcerated women to become writing group leaders themselves. Many go on to led writing groups in correctional institutions or in community programs for women at risk of incarceration or re-incarceration, providing them with valuable leadership experience and skills.
In addition, we bring the women we work with into the community for conversations, presentations and performances so that they can share their writing and interact with the community.
Voices Carry brings the work of VFI writers to the public through presentations at schools, colleges, houses of worship, and community groups.
At Voices Carry events, women read and perform their writing individually and as an ensemble. They have the opportunity to interact with a wide range of people from the community. At the same time, community members gain an understanding of the challenges facing women who have been incarcerated as they work to rebuild their lives.
VFI writing workshops use the Amherst Writers and Artists method developed by Pat Schneider and described in her book: "Writing Alone and with Others". In these workshops, participants receive encouragement and support for their writing, gain self-confidence as they strengthen their literacy and communication skills, and begin to imagine new possibilities for themselves.
An important part of our work involves training previously incarcerated women to become writing group leaders themselves. Many go on to led writing groups in correctional institutions or in community programs for women at risk of incarceration or re-incarceration, providing them with valuable leadership experience and skills.
In addition, we bring the women we work with into the community for conversations, presentations and performances so that they can share their writing and interact with the community.
Voices Carry brings the work of VFI writers to the public through presentations at schools, colleges, houses of worship, and community groups.
At Voices Carry events, women read and perform their writing individually and as an ensemble. They have the opportunity to interact with a wide range of people from the community. At the same time, community members gain an understanding of the challenges facing women who have been incarcerated as they work to rebuild their lives.
Solidarity Statement
In a time of tremendous grief, rage, and pain, we at Voices From Inside are committed to speaking out against police brutality, to aligning ourselves with the Movement for Black Lives, and to working to practice an anti-racist mission. Addressing white supremacy and racism, and their impacts, is one step along the way to achieving these commitments. We recognize the dangers and violence of anti-Black sentiment, racial profiling, and discrimination in our communities and across the nation. We will continue to speak out and name the systems that play a role in the targeted and extrajudicial murders of Black people across the nation.
We honor the lives and legacies of those who have been murdered by law enforcement in the last few days at protests, in the last few weeks in the streets and in their homes, and in the last several hundreds of years in all corners of the nation. We say their names, we send love to their families, we care for their communities, and we defend their lives.
We honor the lives and legacies of those who have been murdered by law enforcement in the last few days at protests, in the last few weeks in the streets and in their homes, and in the last several hundreds of years in all corners of the nation. We say their names, we send love to their families, we care for their communities, and we defend their lives.
BREONNA TAYLOR.
GEORGE FLOYD.
TONY MCDADE.
AHMAUD ARBERY.
DAVID MCATEE.
SEAN REED.
NINA POP.
GEORGE FLOYD.
TONY MCDADE.
AHMAUD ARBERY.
DAVID MCATEE.
SEAN REED.
NINA POP.
Voices From Inside stands against racial violence, police brutality, white supremacy, and the systems of oppression that threaten the lives and wellbeing of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) every day. We believe that Black Lives Matter. We recognize the impacts of collective and generational trauma stemming from hundreds of years of racial persecution. As such, we stand in solidarity with Black leaders in our communities and across the country. We pledge to follow their leads and to participate in the calls for action released by the Movement for Black Lives.