Winter 2017 - 2018 | Volume 2, Issue 1
I n S olidarity The Official Newsletter of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project’s Prisoner Advisory Committee Dear Beloved Community,
Director of Outreach and Community Engagement, Kimberly Mckenzie. Kimberly has been involved with SRLP in many It feels bittersweet to share that on March 9th I will be roles during the last four years, most recently as a non-staff transitioning out of my role as a full-time staff member. After Collective Member who has been a steadfast supporter of nearly four years as the Director of Outreach & Community SRLP’s Movement Building Team. I trust that under Kimberly’s Engagement at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, I will continue leadership, SRLP will continue to grow, stretch, and remain a trans, economic, and gender justice in another form as the part of the fight for liberation. new Director of Economic Justice Initiatives at the LGBT Center in Manhattan. While I’m thrilled to find ways to Much love & hope, continue to resist and be a part of the collective fight for liberation, it is not easy to leave SRLP as a staff member Juana Peralta and my heart feels heavy. I will continue to support SRLP Outgoing Director of Outreach & Community Engagement as a volunteer and as a Collective Member in our ongoing push against the prison industrial complex, finding ways A message from incoming Director of Outreach & Community to incorporate small acts of everyday abolition in our lives, Engagemement, Kimberly Mckenzie: and finding ways to make the world hurt a bit less. I am profoundly grateful to my comrades, wise counsel, and queer With much excitement, it is an extreme honor to serve as fam near and far for all the support and love they’ve provided the new Director of Outreach & Community Engagement. me during the last few months as I move into a new chapter Since 2014, I have supported the work of SRLP by prioritizing of my life. and supporting building the political analysis of TGNCI I have learned so much during my time at SRLP. I am so communities most impacted by poverty, violence and grateful for the support, encouragement to stretch & grow, discrimination. Throughout the many years of supporting and incredible privilege to work with the amazing comrades, the leadership and political voices of our core membership, I advocates, and community connected to SRLP through have had the wonderful opportunity to engage and build with membership, volunteers, and fellow abolitionists. During the community members, developing sustainable relationships with last three and a half years, it has been a privilege to work as not only our core membership but also with local providers the Director of Outreach and Community Engagement and through coalitions, public policy, and advocacy work. I am most co-director of SRLP’s Movement Building Team. excited about the active role in supporting the relaunch of our During my tenure at SRLP, we have been able to expand research project “It’s War in Here” to communicate with our our Prisoner Advisory Committee (PAC) membership to members on the inside about their experiences, while educating over 150 members, release several publications supporting and negotiating with DOCCS the political landscape that our loved ones and friends on the inside, like the Self-Care prevents access to affirming healthcare, clothing, placement and on the Inside Guide, a brochure for legal advocates on safety from violence. how to support incarcerated TGNCI people, continuing One of my first focuses will be building more ways of the SRLP PAC calendar, and increasing the amount of increasing our communication capacity through systematizing correspondence and support to our membership on the the creation and mailing of In Solidarity, forming a team inside through post cards, love notes, and updates. In the last of volunteers to regularly respond to PAC correspondence, six months alone, we’ve been able to host several volunteer and encouraging public education to increase the political days to increase the capacity of the organization, table at participation of our PAC membership. I am deeply dedicated to several community events, and relaunch SRLP’s newsletter improving the conditions of confinement for our incarcerated to our membership on the inside, In Solidarity. I’m deeply TGNCI people in New York State while continuing the excited for what’s to come and how we continue to build powerful work of advocating, supporting and uplifting the a movement that includes and is led by TGNCI people voices of our Prisoner Advisory Committee members. Enjoy In who have been impacted by the prison industrial complex. Solidarity. During the next several months, SRLP will continue to work on the relaunch of the 2007 ground-breaking report “It’s With love, War in Here” and, as member of the logistical committee, I continue to be inspired by the generosity and vulnerability of Kimberly Mckenzie PAC members who, without their leadership and love, this Incoming Director of Outreach & Community Engagement re-launch would not be possible. I am also incredibly excited to introduce SRLP’s new