Women on the Rise works to educate, heal, and empower ourselves, one another, and our communities to demand justice, dignity, and liberation for all.
As Women on the Rise, we assert that public safety is created by strong, interdependent communities, and empowered women and families, not by prisons and police. We honor our lived experience, reclaim our inherent power, cultivate a passion for justice, and engage in bold, collective action to transform our communities and the institutions that affect our families and our lives.
Women on the Rise is a membership-based organization of women targeted and/or impacted by the criminal justice system. Women on the Rise works to educate, heal, and empower ourselves, one another and our communities to demand justice, dignity, and liberation for all.
WoR Accomplishments include: October 2013: Though our core group has been meeting for nearly one year, we held our first Membership Meeting On October 26th and had more than forty women attend. September 2013: Women on the Rise joined 9 to 5’s Ban the Box Campaign, the Georgia Justice Project and ABLE to host ‘The Real Effects of a Criminal …
Women on the Rise also works with and supports efforts anchored by other organizations to eliminate the ban on food stamps for those convicted of drug offenses, reduce and/or eliminate lengthy probation and parole sentences, end housing discrimination against people with criminal convictions among other needed policy changes.
Women on the Rise is working with our sister organization Ban the Box/ 9to5 to get public and private employers to remove the box that asks about prior convictions or arrests on job applications. We are working in a coordinated strategy to take city by city and county by county until we pass legislation at the state-wide level that bans …
The number one charge for women incarcerated is forgery (ie writing bad checks) and the majority of women incarcerated and/or detained in Georgia are there for non-violent offenses like shoplifting or simple drug possession. Currently, the Fulton County Jail is so over-capacity that women are forced to sleep on the floor in the jail and the County is spending even …
“It is critical now more than ever that Atlanta and Fulton County step up to be a sanctuary city, an island of freedom, an oasis of resistance. In a Trump America so many of our people – immigrants, HIV positive people, Black people, poor people, trans and queer people – will be under attack – and the city and county …
Another good piece… Don’t Lock ’Em Up. Give ’Em a Chance to Quit Drugs. Seattle tries a program to reduce incarceration of addicts, and other cities begin to follow. -NYTIMES.COM
After four years of grassroots organizing and building pressure, Governor Deal has finally signed the executive order that Bans the Box on state employee job applications. Remind our communities and elected officials that when formerly incarcerated people and our allies fight injustice, we can (and will) win!