Ex-Prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement
“We are ex-prisoners along with allies, friends, and family coming
together to create resources and opportunities for those who have paid
their debt to society.” – EPOCA Mission Statement
Organizational Background:
EPOCA is a grassroots organization based in Worcester Massachusetts.
We began organizing in 2004, when a handful of former prisoners and a
community organizer began talking about the issues and problems people
faced re-entering society after paying their debts. The overuse of
Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) emerged as the key factor
preventing us from attaining self-sufficiency and housing, and
restricting our families to a life of poverty and desperation.
EPOCA exists to fundamentally change the relationships of power in our
community, so that our constituents are the foremost actors in the
decisions that affect our lives. Although we are well known as
leaders of local and statewide efforts to end the overuse and misuse
of Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI), it is in the broader
goal of building true democracy that we are most proud of our
progress.
EPOCA is currently engaged in Re-Routing the Prison Pipeline, a
multi-campaign initiative in keeping with our mission to stop the
increasing growth of ‘Incarceration Nation’ and to reduce crime and
recidivism by creating opportunities and equality for those who have
paid their debts to society. Brick by brick, we are dismantling this
cruel and racist system that harms all of us, and working to create a
humane and effective criminal justice system. At the heart of our
project lies our ongoing goal to build our base and develop leaders
who will promote the seeds for change within our community.
Civic Engagement:
Membership in EPOCA requires a person to register to vote. Voter
registration and engagement is a fundamental part of our everyday
activities: community outreach, tabling, at rallies, events, meetings
and when recruiting new members and helping them seal their CORIs. We
put extra emphasis on voter registration and engagement activities
during election years, where such activities can be used to raise the
visibility of our organization and campaign issues, reach more people
in our communities and build our base. MassVOTE’s Mini Grant program
has enabled us to expand and track our civic engagement work in a
concerted outreach effort during the next six months leading up to
elections in November.
