Statements
Mission
To provide programs and resources for the prison community - incarcerated people, their families, and correctional staff - changing the culture from one of crime and incarceration to hope and restoration. HeartBound Ministries breaks generational cycles of crime and incarceration by providing purposeful programming to the prison community so that incarcerated people return to their families and communities as transformed individuals.
Background
HeartBound believes that prison can be more than just a place where people "serve time." We envision a prison system where lives are healed, transformed, and redeemed. We see a future where generational cycles of crime and incarceration are broken, recidivism rates are reduced dramatically, and people are restored to their families, communities, and faith. Over the past 20 years, HeartBound has helped thousands of people impacted by incarceration through an array of programs including art, music, and horticulture/beekeeping classes, literacy programs, trauma counseling, mentoring, life skills training, parenting classes, a college degree program for incarcerated women, chaplaincy, and more. Our comprehensive array of programs helps to fill the gap in much needed services for justice-involved adults and youth and their families. HeartBound is a respected voice on issues of criminal justice reform and has been recognized by USA Today, the University of Tennessee, Georgia Council for the Arts, Exelon Energy, and others for its efforts. HeartBound has pioneered positive, systematic change in prisons, particularly in implementing art, literacy, and educational programs for people impacted by incarceration.
HeartBound's commitment to the arts also extends beyond the razor wire. HeartBound hired Fred Eason, a prolific artist who spent 32 years in prison, to serve as a Project ART instructor. Fred's art has been featured at the Georgia Governor's Mansion, Georgia State Capitol, and, most recently, at Oglethorpe Museum of Art. In 2022, HeartBound hosted an event with George Anthony Morton, former inmate and subject of the award-winning documentary "Master of Light", for juveniles serving adults sentences at Burruss Correctional Training Center.
Prison is all too often a community of deprivation. Incarcerated people are physically and geographically limited in their ability to access the arts. Many incarcerated people have never picked up a paint brush, never touched a canvas, or never felt the sense of accomplishment and joy that comes from creating something beautiful. But thanks to HeartBound, they can.
Impact
Founded in 2003, HeartBound Ministries is a nonprofit organization providing programs and resources to meet the needs of the prison community - incarcerated people, their families, and correctional staff - changing the culture from one of crime and incarceration to hope and restoration. For over 20 years, HeartBound has helped thousands of people impacted by incarceration through the following programs:
• Project ART (Art to Rehabilitate and Teach): Uses art lessons to teach skills and build positive relationships between incarcerated youth/adults and instructors who provide mentoring and guidance.
• The Little Readers program allows children to see and hear their parent or loved one read a book to them via DVD and read along. Little Readers promotes a culture of literacy and book access in families impacted by incarceration or addiction and helps mitigate the traumatic effects of family incarceration and separation. Little Readers has reached over 11,000 children and 6,000 families since its inception in 2014.
• Women's Prison Seminary - In 2018, HeartBound opened the first-ever women's prison seminary in Georgia and the second in the nation at Whitworth Women's Facility so that incarcerated women can obtain a college education at no cost to them.
• Returning Hearts Celebration: An event reuniting children and their incarcerated parent on the prison grounds for an unforgettable day of games, food, arts and crafts, and relationship building to facilitate the healing process and break the cycle of crime and incarceration in families.
• Children's Visitation Centers: Located at Metro Women's Transitional Center and Whitworth Women's Facility, these visitation centers allow children to visit with their incarcerated mothers in a fun, child-friendly environment that encourages a sense of normalcy and offers a brief reprieve from the pain and loss children have experienced as a result of being separated from their mothers. Learn more
• Malachi Dads: A weekly parenting training program for incarcerated fathers.
• Trauma Counseling: Weekly professional trauma counseling services are provided at no charge to female transitional residents at Metro Transitional Center.
• Art from the Inside - An annual art show and sale featuring the remarkable talents of Georgia's incarcerated artists.
Written surveys, classroom observation, and disciplinary reports are used to measure Project ART's impact. Response to our programs has been overwhelmingly positive, as reported by correctional staff, instructors, and the inmates themselves. Terry, an incarcerated boy who participates in our music, art, horticulture and dog training classes, graduated as valedictorian of his GED class in February 2022. In his graduation speech, Terry drew upon what he has learned from his art classes: "As my art teacher Fred says, don't handcuff yourself." Since participating in our classes, Terry has gone from a shy, scared to speak up, standoffish, inattentive kid to one that is a leader, a friend to all, and a voice of reason.
Survey responses from incarcerated youth in Project ART demonstrate the impact it can have on a life:
"I feel more hopeful. They [the instructors] make me strive in a way like getting my education. They're very communicating than most mentors and they care like family."
"[Project ART] gave me something to do other than the normal everyday schedule and it also allowed me to channel my energy into something positive. It helps take our minds off the everyday stress of being incarcerated. It shows me I'm creative and talented enough to find other ways to provide for myself."
"This shows us a way to blow off steam in a non violent way They treat us like people. Not prisoners. When I'm here I feel as if I'm meditating. It is just a really good program. I wish we had a musical class with this."
Needs
The people served by HeartBound's Project ART are often forgotten by society. The majority are poor, people of color, and have learning disabilities. They are at higher risk of mental and emotional problems, substance abuse, and domestic violence - factors that gravely affect their ability to succeed in society and in life. Incarcerated people experience higher rates of poverty, anxiety, withdrawal, depression, guilt, shame, anger, aggression, social phobias, drug and alcohol use, suicide, and poor academic performance than the general population. They live in a community of deprivation with little access to art, music, and nature. HeartBound invites and involves incarcerated people in program development because prisoners (two-thirds of which have previously been incarcerated) are acutely aware of the shortcomings of the correctional system and what is needed. They are better able to creatively identify programs that address their actual needs. Educational, literacy, and art programs have been scientifically demonstrated to be successful. Correctional systems should better use incarcerated individuals with college and technical experience as assets, reducing the need for staff members and volunteers to facilitate technical and educational programming.
CEO Statement
I am certainly not naive in terms of our "constituency" and I do not condone whatever it is they did that resulted in their placement behind bars. But I and HeartBound believe that everyone, no matter what they've done, deserves an opportunity to change and one of the greatest tools for change is the arts and literacy.
HeartBound realizes that art is a lifeline for offenders. It helps them experience their humanity and self-worth and combats the soul-destroying boredom that comes with prison life. HeartBound realized, when others did not, that people in prison need to create and express themselves and should have the right to create something beautiful. We successfully worked to make it happen. Through our many programs, HeartBound has helped thousands of incarcerated people express their creativity, learn new skills, read and bond with their children, obtain an education, and receive counseling and spiritual care at no cost to them or their families.
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Crime & Legal - Related - Rehabilitation Services for Offenders |
| Secondary Category: | Crime & Legal - Related - Inmate Support |
| Tertiary Category: | Arts, Culture & Humanities - Arts Education |
Areas Served
HeartBound was founded in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2019, we established a second location in Nashville, Tennessee.
| TN - Davidson |
| Other |
