To our partners in the fight for justice, 

It would be impossible to adequately articulate the innumerable contributions that MJF steering committee chair Melanca Clark has made to the criminal legal reform movement across Michigan and nationally. It was announced this month that Melanca will be departing the Hudson-Webber Foundation where she has served as president and CEO for the past seven years. The news, while bittersweet, allows us to celebrate her leadership and inspiring deep-rooted commitment to social and racial justice.

The early seeds of the Michigan Justice Fund were planted in 2018 under Melanca’s leadership at the Hudson-Webber Foundation. The Foundation convened a wide cadre of stakeholders to explore potential opportunities to address issues of mass incarceration statewide, energizing a diverse constituency interested in reducing crime, increasing community well-being, improving the outcomes of youth and at-risk adults, and establishing racial equity within Michigan’s criminal legal system. This convening resulted in two roundtable reports highlighting the opportunities and challenges to advancing effective and equitable justice policy in Michigan. In February 2020, the initial group of funders, advocates, policy-makers, practitioners, and people directly impacted by criminal legal system involvement convened in Detroit for the first meeting of the Michigan Justice Fund. 

Melanca is a trailblazing leader, leveraging her professional background to form collaborative partnerships with advocates, practitioners and public sector stakeholders to drive decision-making and strategy to help achieve desired outcomes at scale. We will continue to honor her catalytic and transformational leadership today and beyond.

Acknowledging this season of transition, we have begun internal preparations to uplift new leadership within the MJF steering committee. We are excited to continue the ambitious work of the Fund with the continued partnership of our funders, stakeholders, and grantees.

On behalf of the Michigan Justice Fund team, grantees, and partners, I want to offer the deepest thanks and recognition to you Melanca, for your selflessness, your brilliance, and your kindness to each and every person who has been touched by your work.

Free Your Mind, Art & Incarceration Exhibition at MOCAD

The Michigan Justice Fund is proud to partner with the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, the Prison Creative Arts Project at the University of Michigan, and MOCAD to present the Free Your Mind exhibition highlighting art and incarceration in Michigan. 

This exhibition uplifts the work and experiences of artists and advocates who are directly impacted by the carceral and criminal legal systems in Michigan. The artists here capture the full humanity, beauty, and depth of people impacted by incarceration and illustrate the impacts of the broken and inequitable justice system on our entire community. The Free Your Mind exhibition seeks to stimulate imagination and activate bold, solution driven responses towards creating the more equitable and just world we know is possible. 

The exhibition is housed at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit in Mike Kelley’s Mobile Homestead space. The exhibition opened on Friday, April 15 and is available to view through September 3.

Click here to read about the exhibition in the Michigan Chronicle. 

MJF On The Air

On Saturday, April 29, Michigan Justice Fund Director Ashley Carter was interviewed, by Priya Mann of WDIV, regarding the launch of the Free Your Mind exhibition and the Mother's Day Bail campaign benefiting mothers and caregivers to ensure they spend Mother's Day with their loved ones. Nicholas Buckingham of Michigan Liberation was on set to uplift the campaign. Check it out!

Freep Film Festival: Coldwater Kitchen

In April, the Michigan Justice Fund team along with MJF grantees and collaborators attended the Freep Film Festival for a special viewing of Coldwater Kitchen at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Coldwater Kitchen is a documentary centering the highly regarded culinary training program out of a prison in Coldwater, Michigan, offering incarcerated men a renewed sense of purpose through the craft of fine dining while demonstrating the life-changing potential that trust and compassion can offer the incarcerated.

Photo credit: John Bone, Cell Scene, 2010. Graphite on paper. Collection of Janie Paul.

On Thursday, May 18 at MOCAD, Author Janie Paul and two formerly incarcerated artists will discuss making visual art in prison, with reference to Paul’s recently published book, Making Art in Prison: Survival and Resistance, and the artists’ personal experiences. 

Mark your calendars! In July, the Michigan Justice Fund will host a conversation series featuring Michigan Justice Fund grantees and advocates highlighted in the Free Your Mind exhibition. The panel discussions will uplift the work of our partners, their personal experiences, and emphasize the dire need for advocacy and prison reform. 

MJF grantee, Michigan Liberation, recently launched a campaign to raise funding and awareness for their Michigan Black Mama's Bailout efforts. This past Mother's Day, Michigan Liberation raised funds to ensure mothers and caregivers in Michigan were able to spend the day with loved ones by paying for their bail. Michigan Liberation's efforts impacted mothers and caregivers in Wayne, Oakland and Kalamazoo counties. 

Empowering Justice-Impacted Women: The Women’s Resource Center’s Impact

The Women's Resource Center, of Grand Rapids, recently celebrated its 50^th anniversary serving justice-involved women and providing them with the resources and support to thrive after their encounters with the criminal legal system. Since the organization’s inception in 1973, the state of incarcerated women has changed drastically. In this blog, we interviewed WRC staff to uplift their holistic approach to re-entry and the barriers impacting women returning to their communities after incarceration. 

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Michigan Justice Fund is an initiative of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.
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