Fresh Start Creations is an innovative program that provides an opportunity for women in prison to positively participate in the community.
Fresh Start Creations
Women helping women
The women in Grand Valley Institution for Women create handmade greeting cards at Stride Night, a social recreation program, in the prison.
The women in prison choose a local, non-profit agency that supports women and children, to be the recipient of a $500 donation. 100% of the proceeds are donated to the charity.
The local charity receives the donation at a ceremony organized in the prison. To date, $5500 has been donated to local charities. These charities include: Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region: Anselma House and Haven House, YWCA Kitchener Waterloo, Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region, Child Witness Centre, Marillac Place, oneROOF, Healing of the Seven Generations, FrontDoor and the Taming Tempers Together program at KW Counselling.
“Fresh Start Creations gives me an opportunity to share my talents with others. It provides me with a sense of purpose and inner peace. It also promotes positive change which encourages me to persevere and pursue my hopes and ambitions for the future.
Fresh Start Creations Participant, serving 3 1⁄2 years
While providing opportunities for women in prison to positively participate in their community during incarceration, Fresh Start Creations enables the women to think differently about their role and value to society while challenging community to think differently about women in prison.
Fresh Start Creations is operated through Stride. A program of Community Justice Initiatives, Stride supports the successful reintegration of women leaving prison. We believe that for a woman to be successful in overcoming obstacles and achieving goals, we need to create more informed, caring and responsive communities to support her changes. If she is successful, the community is safer for us all.
The cards are sold in the community at the following locations: Queen St. Commons, Gifted Waterloo, Button Factory Arts, Open Sesame, Waterloo Region Museum, CJI and at Queens Park Gift Shop in Toronto.
MPP Catherine Fife makes a statement in the Ontario Legislature about CJI, Restorative Justice, Fresh Start Creations and the Women incarcerated at GVI (Spring 2017)
Our cheerful volunteers selling FSC cards in the community
“It’s nice to give back to the community because the community gives us so much.”
Fresh Start Creations Participant
During our 40+ year history, we have continuously responded to community needs by creatively, and innovatively applying restorative justice principles to new problems. We believe the only limit to the power of restorative justice is the capacity of the human heart to change and grow.
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