Gender Justice
The Place Matters team is working with our partners to raise awareness, examine research, and develop strategies to inform gender responsive policies and practices in Maine’s public systems. While we recognize that gender influences all of our lives, we focus on reducing harm and creating opportunities for women, girls, and nonbinary individuals who have been impacted by the criminal legal system. We also recognize the harm of parental incarceration and work to create a child-centered approach to alleviating that harm for Maine’s families.
Children of Incarcerated Parents
The Place Matters team works with our partners to build awareness and understanding, and develop strategies to center the children, lift up the voices of those who are directly impacted, and reduce the harm of parental incarceration in Maine. Research shows that there are thousands of children in Maine who have experienced the trauma of parental incarceration. We continue to build strategic alliances, pilot strategies, and empower women and children to share their stories with the goals of ensuring safety and minimizing harm, improving belonging, keeping families connected, and centering the child’s voice. Our work aims to improve policies, administrative practices, and community-based services, supports, and pathways to help families and children who have been impacted by parental incarceration thrive.
The Gender Justice Collective
As a member of the Gender Justice Collective, we are building strategic alliances with state and national partners to build a collaborative strategy towards gender equity and inclusion in Maine’s criminal legal system.
The Gender Justice Collective envisions a future where gender responsive policies and practices are built into every public system so that women, girls, and nonbinary individuals can be fully supported to experience wellbeing, healing, and have equal opportunities to lead and thrive in their communities. To achieve this vision the Gender Justice Collective aims to inform policy through research and storytelling, and create opportunities for women, girls, and nonbinary individuals to participate in systems change. Our strategic focus is on women, girls, and nonbinary individuals who have been impacted by the criminal legal system in Maine.
Our current partners include women who have been directly impacted by the criminal legal system, policymakers, local advocates, and state and local policy organizations. We are currently developing our list of priorities and building this collective with our founding partners, including the Opportunity Scholars program and Reentry Sisters.
Resources
The Place Matters team and our partners strive to use data and research to inform strategies and we also value the stories of those with lived experiences.
What Are We Waiting For? A collection of poems and essays about family, love, loss, time, and hope
A collection that tells the stories of women and their families who have been impacted by incarceration in Maine and New York.
Breaking the Cycle: Interrupting Generational Incarceration in Maine
A snapshot of data from the Maine Department of Corrections that provides a first of it’s kind look at the number of children in Maine who were impacted by parental incarceration between 2015 and 2020.
Beyond The Bars Maine: Data & Strategy Wall
A digital presentation of comments and ideas contributed by attendees at the conference in October 2024.
Our Core Partners
This work would not be possible without funding from the Bingham Program, the support of the Maine Department of Corrections and all of our core partners, thank you!
