Hey y'all! Brett here, Farm Enterprise Manager, with some fun updates from the Farm this hot summer. Roots of Success graduationsFirst, we want to celebrate two of our residents who completed all ten modules of the Roots of Success Environmental Literacy & Job Training program. This course …
A Truly Free Woman
This past Tuesday, May 2, Mona and the BF Team made our way to the North Carolina General Assembly in Raleigh to voice our support for the Second Chance Legislative Agenda to our state representatives. Second Chance Lobby Day was game changing. As Mona shared, "I saw so …
Second Chance Lobby Day 2023
Benevolence Farm is excited to attend this year's Second Chance Lobby Day. What exactly is Second Chance Lobby Day? Second Chance Lobby Day is a time for all who believe in second chances to come together to speak to our North Carolina lawmakers about the criminal legal and reentry issues that are …
Benevolence Farm voices opposition to amendment of Bureau of Prisons’ “Inmate Financial Responsibility Program”
Submitted online via regulations.gov with research conducted by the Fines & Fees Justice Center For more information about the proposed amendment, click here. RE Inmate Financial Responsibility Program: Procedures Benevolence Farm writes to offer comments on the Bureau of …
November is too late to build electoral power
Republished with permission from the author. In the U.S. South, race is one of the most significant hurdles to our social political progress. Racialized geographies haunt our daily interactions. They are infused into our collective memory banks, dictating much of the ways we show up in our …
Remembering Deb Ainsworth
Deb Ainsworth (1956 - 2023)Deb Ainsworth arrived at The Farm in December 2018 after 27 years of incarceration. The first resident she met upon her arrival was Lady, our original Farm Dog. Just a few weeks later, it snowed. For the first time in nearly 30 years, Deb was the first person to walk …
Meet the Dream Team: Katie
The Dream Team Series highlights the amazing work of each of our staff members. Over the past few weeks, we've highlighted each team member on different platforms and mediums. Today, we'd like to introduce you to Katie Anderson, Second Chance Alamance Project Manager How did you come to know …
Eight Days of Oil
Hanukkah is a celebration of the Maccabees, a group of Jewish rebel warriors, who fought to recover Jerusalem and the Second Temple. The Temple was purified and the wicks of the menorah miraculously burned for eight days, even though there was only enough sacred oil for one day's lighting. The …
Soap Box Series: SNAP and TANF Bans
**The Benevolence Farm Soap Box Series is a space for us to elevate the thorny, complicated, and frustrating barriers current and formerly incarcerated people face in North Carolina and the United States. It is our hope that elevating these topics will raise awareness and lead to systemic …
Introducing Roots of Success
Benevolence Farm is always looking for new ways to achieve its mission of cultivating leadership, promoting sustainable livelihoods, and reaping structural change with individuals impacted by the criminal legal system in North Carolina. That’s why we have begun a new environmental education and job …
Benevolence Farm Opens a Second Home
You already know we’re all about second chances. Now, we’re opening a second location to offer more of those chances to formerly incarcerated women in rural communities. That’s right! We’ve opened up a combined office and house in Burlington, North Carolina. This house will double our capacity to …
#FreetheMail
There’s no doubt that email and text messages have phased out handwritten letters in our everyday lives. However, for those who are incarcerated, physical mail can be a lifeline. In October of 2021, North Carolina’s Department of Public Safety (DPS) started to outsource mail processing services to …