Please register to join IPMW for A Cause for Celebration, a 5-day virtual event.
From Sunday, October 25th – Thursday, October 29th, 7:00 – 7:40 pm each evening, gather in community from the comfort of your own home to celebrate 40 years of service, honor organizational ancestors, and lift up the voices of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women through music, cooking and other forms of creativity and resiliency.
Register for any or all of the nights, participate in a silent auction, donate items yourself, become an event sponsor and/or make your generous contribution to ensure that this vital work continues for another 40 years.
Several Special Guests will pepper the episodes with welcome and assist as we present our inaugural Hope Awards, honoring local leaders.
- Beacon of Hope: Dr. Alice Noell, Wake Technical College and JobStart Instructor
- Angel of Hope: The Anonymous Trust and Kimberly Breeden, Director of the Simply East Fund
- Champion of Hope: Commissioner Jessica Holmes, Chair of the Wake County Board of Commissioners
Episode 1 – Sunday, October 25th, 7PM: HERStory
Welcome: Debra Holt Noel, UNC-TV
Trip down memory lane with us as we trace our rich history. From the hiring of the first female chaplain in the state of North Carolina in 1980, to showcasing the varied talents and contributions of our Executive Directors and Chaplains over the years, learn how everything has always centered around the women. Featuring A Cause for Celebration Event Co-Chair and IPMW Board Member Dr. Doris Braswell Bullock, Oral Historian Cathia Friou, and Executive Director Jennifer C. Jackson, this evening will feature highlights and milestones from IPMW’s 40 years, and showcase how they have intersected with carceral trends in the broader society. We also will honor the contributions of First Presbyterian Church of Raleigh on the life of this organization.
Episode 2 – Monday, October 26th, 7PM: A Taste of Prison
Welcome: Valonda Calloway, Arts Reporter and TV Host
Calling all Cooking Channel junkies for an interactive, cooking-show-style event in which you will catch a glimpse of how birthdays are celebrated in prison. Led by IPMW’s Chaplain Jobe and women who have years of experience cooking behind bars, this night will feature songs, poetry, and story-telling as we all learn to make “prison lasagna” and the “state cakes” that women make for each other’s birthdays while doing time. As with all birthdays in prison, this will be an evening in which grief and joy sit side by side, learning from incarcerated women how to honor both the losses that are multiplied by prisons and the creative resilience that abounds in those who are locked up.
Episode 3 – Tuesday, October 27th, 7PM: Speaking Up, Singing Out
Welcome: Frank Stasio, WUNC The State of Things
Join us in the healing power of song. In 2016, a group of songwriters came together while in prison. They have made a name for themselves sharing the powerful and moving music they wrote about love and loss, grief and resiliency while incarcerated, both around the Triangle and through two Conviction Concerts sponsored by IPMW in 2017 and 2018. Since that time, three additional members have been released from the prison and added to the group. This evening will feature Sus Long and members of the Conviction Band as they lead us through the creative process, showing how they respond to the fear and struggle of life in the pandemic with poetry, music, and hope for the future.
Episode 4 – Wednesday, October 28th, 7PM: Heal. Grow. Thrive.
Welcome: David Crabtree, WRAL
Help us to write the next chapter of IPMW’s history. This evening will include friends whose post-prison journeys have just begun, Executive Director Jennifer C. Jackson and partners as they share their vision for a new women’s reentry project that was launched in July of 2020, thanks to a generous investment by the Anonymous Trust. In development since 2018 and informed by partners, stakeholders and other members of the community, this new initiative builds upon 40 years of chaplaincy programs and services and 20 years of transition education to offer a safe and stable base from which women can prepare for and navigate new and healthier lives after incarceration.
Episode 5 – Thursday, October 29th, 7PM: A Cause for Celebration
Debra Morgan, WRAL
The work of prison chaplaincy, transition and reentry is a collaborative effort. It is only through the support of the community that we have reached this momentous 40th anniversary occasion. Many hands and hearts have contributed to four decades of work with women. This final evening of our celebration will feature the inaugural Hope Awards, honoring three area leaders whose tireless work has made the way smoother for justice-involved women. Join IPMW Board President Marci White and Executive Director Jennifer C. Jackson as they present the awards.