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The Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted Peoples and Families Movement

Founded in 2011, FICPFM is building and sustaining a national movement of people working to end mass incarceration by transforming the criminal legal system, through grassroots organizing, legislative advocacy and leadership development.  Ultimately, FICPFM envisions a society where prisons do not exist.

Forward Justice offers FICPFM strategic support to buttress the stability and growth of the movement network in multiple ways.

For example, Forward Justice led the planning of the 2018 FICPFM Bi-annual Conference held in Orlando, FL from September 13-15, 2018, where over 1,000 directly impacted people came from across the country to advocate for Amendment 4.

Forward Justice provided the infrastructure necessary to organize such a monumental gathering, including fiscal sponsorship, conference planning and registration, and flights and hotel coordination.

Most notably, conference attendees knocked on 1,800 doors, received commitments from 700 people that they would speak to 10 of their friends about Amendment 4, phoned banked with another 10,000 people, and sent text messages to 70,000 voters. In total, FICPFM network members identified, educated, and engaged 87,000 potential voters in one afternoon - efforts that supported the historic passage of Amendment 4 in Florida.

In 2018 Forward Justice also helped FICPFM launch The Quest for Democracy Fund (Q4D),  a movement capacity-building project created to broaden and strengthen the national base of organizations run by formerly incarcerated people. Forward Justice, as fiscal sponsor for the FICPFM network, helped the FICPFM steering committee raise $500,000 (2018) and 1.2 million (2019)–specifically to regrant to smaller (budgets less than $300K) non-profit organizations led by formerly incarcerated people. The funding priorities, as determined by the FICPFM steering committee, included: (1)  Restoration of Rights for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people; (2) Felon Re-enfranchisement/Voting Rights Restoration, and Civic Engagement; (3) Law Enforcement Accountability (police, prosecutors, and judges); and (4) Bail Reform and Systems Supervision.

In addition, FICPFM leveraged its resources and position in the field to establish an innovative relationship with the The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. FICPFM and  CZI, via its Movement and Capacity Building (MCB) team, created specialized curriculums to provide ongoing trainings to Q4D recipients.  The trainings included webinars, executive coaching, convenings, as well as building organizational processes and enhancing management and leadership skills. 

FICPFM-Graphic

FICPFM Steering Committee Member Organizations:

  • All of Us Or None
  • A New Way of Life
  • College and Community Fellowship
  • Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice
  • Forward Justice
  • Haywood Burns Institute
  • JustLeadershipUSA
  • Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
  • The Ordinary People Society
  • Voice of the Experienced

Learn About our Partners