THE COALITION TO END SHERIFF VIOLENCE IN LA JAILS is the central base-building project through which DPN builds a movement to end state violence and mass incarceration. Since its inception the coalition has had four demands

• Implement independent civilian oversight of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
• Decarcerate the LA County jail system
• Stop Jail Expansion
• Respect the civil and human rights of incarcerated people

The coalition recently released a proposal for an independent review board that is being discussed by members of the LA County Board of Supervisors and has been endorsed by the LA Times.

FREEDOM HARVEST is a collective of artists and organizers who use art to engage the community on issues of incarceration, trauma, and collective resilience. In the summer of 2014 we completed a 12 week summer workshop series titled Rise of the Dandelions Part 2: Shattering Shame, Breaking Silence. The series brought art, resilience practices, and movement building to the 6 major jail sites in Los Angeles.

BUILDING RESILIENCE is a working group comprised of healthcare providers, academics, and community members researching incarceration’s impact on mental health and advocating for alternatives through diversion programs. In the summer of 2014 Dignity and Power Now’s Building Resilience was invited to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland to brief the UN on a report identifying racial discrimination and abuse of Black people with mental health conditions in the Los Angeles jail system. The shadow report was included in the UN review of United States compliance with the International Convention to End all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

THE DANDELION RISING LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE is a leadership development program for communities most vulnerable to incarceration. This program develops participants’ skills in effective organizing and public leadership. We have worked with over 200 students since November 2012.

DPN Board Member Richard Edmond Vargas founded SUCCESS STORIES inside of Soledad State prison, a prisoner-run, 55-member, 25-week group that aims to rehabilitate prisoners, primarily 35 years of age and under, gang members, and repeat offenders, by challenging them to explore the root causes of their lifestyle choices and provide the training necessary to have sustainable success.

THE DIGNITY AND POWER NOW ZINE is released annually and is written, curated, and produced by an editorial board of academics and community members. The zine highlights DPN’s analysis on incarceration and community involvement. We have issued two zines so far.