I have exciting news to share with you! Recently, we announced an additional grant from the Walmart Foundation through the Walmart.org Center for Racial Equity. Over the next two years, the additional $1.25 million will support Prison Fellowship’s First Chance Network. Formerly known as the Opportunity Kids Collaborative, the First Chance Network is a group of organizations committed to creating a future where every child has a chance to thrive.
This new name was suggested to us by Dr. Marvin Carr, director of the Center for Racial Equity at Walmart.org, and we couldn’t be happier to adopt it. In the four decades we’ve been serving Angel Tree families, we’ve seen how hard it is for kids with a parent in prison to get a true first chance in life. The stigma, financial hardship, and emotional turmoil can weigh so heavily on them.
In America, 1 in 49 children copes with these challenges; in communities of color, the numbers are much higher. Many struggle to thrive, and they are more likely than their peers to become involved in the criminal justice system. But there’s good news. With access to enriching opportunities, caring relationships, and community resources, these kids can overcome the barriers in their way and reach their full potential.
Dr. Carr grew up in Southwest Detroit in housing projects with little access to the internet and no STEM exposure. He saw the traumatic toll that high rates of incarceration took on his community. But in fifth grade, he was introduced to computer science, learned about coding by using the internet at the library, and went on to earn multiple degrees.
We’re thrilled to be collaborating with the Walmart Foundation so that many more kids can get the first chance they deserve and so that outcomes like Dr. Carr’s can become expected—not exceptional—in communities that are struggling today.
As a supporter of Prison Fellowship, you already know how critical it is that we invest in these kids. The odds may be stacked against them, but with support from you and our partners, they can receive the opportunities every child deserves in life—not only to avoid the criminal justice system, but also to step into their tremendous, God-given potential.
Prison Fellowship Angel Tree has long served the children of prisoners at Christmas and beyond with help from volunteers and supporters like you, but this isn’t a job for just one organization. Children deserve a circle of community-based support devoted to their success.
That’s where the First Chance Network comes in. Thousands of churches, nonprofits, and other organizations are serving innovatively in this area, but some families and young people impacted by parental incarceration are unaware of the services available to them. And some organizations need help connecting with those they hope to serve. Through the First Chance Network, Prison Fellowship Angel Tree and our partners hold joint events, share referrals for community-based services, and help families hurt by the effects of incarceration find healing and restoration.
We’re confident that through these partnerships, we can extend our impact and help even more children in need of a first chance. Through the impact-multiplying power of the network, your prayers and support
will go even further to uplift children, nurture their success, and disrupt generational cycles of incarceration. Consequently, you help give children the chance they need to become the person God created them to be!
Celebrating Him,
JAMES J. ACKERMAN President and Chief Executive Officer
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