On the evening of Friday, June 9th, Community Works West hosted an opening night reception for The Welcome Home Project, a collection of stories and photographs of formerly incarcerated Alameda County residents who turned their lives around after years in prisons and jails. 

The Welcome Home Project is a collection of stories and photographs of formerly incarcerated Alameda County residents who turned their lives around after years in prisons and jails. Their stories are testimony to the power of resilience and determination in the face of the barriers that most formerly incarcerated individuals face.

Opening Night Reception:

Friday, June 9, 5:30-7:30 PM

John O’Lague Galleria In Hayward City Hall

777 B Street, Hayward CA

Project WHAT!, raises awareness about the effects of parental incarceration on children, with the long-term goal of improving services and policies that affect these children. Once a year we hold a fundraiser to raise money for our high school seniors who are transitioning into college. Read about past scholarship recipients here.

For prison inmates, being a parent is hard. You’re far away but you’re still here. And the visits and letters, those small points of contact, can become that much tougher for the distance.

Luna Garcia swipes through the photos on her phone until she finds it — the one of a young man with a slight mustache standing against a wall, his blue shirt neatly pressed, holding a chubby baby girl.

It’s the kind of picture someone might snap at a holiday dinner, a grainy image of a girl and her dad. But just out of the frame are armed guards and metal doors. It was visiting day at San Quentin State Prison.

Sean Sanchez knows the routine.

Before anyone can ask, the 12-year-old pulls his pants pockets inside out and takes off his shoes, wiggling his toes to prove he’s not concealing drugs or weapons. Cleared by deputies, he’s allowed inside San Francisco County Jail No. 5 to see his father.

We pay a high price when our loved ones are entangled in a punitive justice system that often leads to incarceration. The Sentence Unseen bears witness to the impacts of the US criminal justice system when family members are taken away from our community. The exhibit sheds light on the collateral consequences of arrest and incarceration on children, youth, families, and communities while celebrating the heart and resiliency of those impacted.

The Welcome Home Project is a collection of stories and photographs of 20 formerly incarcerated men and women who were able to turn their lives around after many years in jails and prisons.