A fundraiser organized by the Village of Hope, titled "Education vs. Incarceration: A Night of Education", will take place Sat., April 18, at 6:30 p.m. at Franklin High School, 3013 S Mount Baker Blvd. The $10 suggested donation benefits organizing efforts against the closure of five public schools and the construction for a new municipal jail in Seattle.
Five Seattle Public Schools are scheduled to close this summer. Among these are schools that serve a large number of poor students and students of color, leading some activists to protest that these closures are unfairly affecting an already disadvantaged population. At the same time, the city of Seattle is spearheading a $200 million project to construct a new municipal jail.
So it's very appropriate that the Village of Hope event will feature speaker Khalil Osiris. A national speaker on prisoner reentry and restorative justice, Osiris' personal history, education, and professional endeavors make him a powerful advocate of education as a preventative tool and alternative to incarceration.
After 20 years in the Norfolk Prison Colony in Massachusetts, Osiris emerged to become an author, college professor and pastor.
During his imprisonment, Osiris fiercely advocated for his own education and that of his fellow inmates. During his 20 years as an incarcerated man, he earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Boston University, organized book clubs to promote literacy and formed prisoner study groups.
Osiris drew on this experience to author several books on the subject of reentry and restorative justice, including his most recent, "Taking Responsibility: A Faith-Based Approach for Successful Reentry" and "Psychology of Incarceration: A Distortion of the State of Belonging." In Ohio, Osiris teaches a course on the psychology of incarceration at Wright State University. He also offers a reentry program to incarcerated men and women throughout Ohio's prison system and directs the Circle for Recovery Ohio under the program, a statewide reentry initiative which emphasizes peer-based education and training.
Joining Osiris on Saturday will be Jesse Hagopian, a Seattle Public Schools teacher and activist. His articles on education injustice in Seattle can be found in many local publications.
For more information about the event, email [email protected].