Leadership Talk with Hope House Director Carol Fennelly

Join us Friday, June 15, 2001 at 1:00 PM Eastern Standard Time for a live, online interview with Carol Fennelly, Director of Hope House.

Leadership Talk June 15 Read the full discussion.

Hope House began in 1998 to offer services to District of Columbia men incarcerated in the Corrections Corporation of America’s Youngstown, Ohio prison and their families. Despite the fact that 94% of those incarcerated are men, few programs are focused specifically on improving and sustaining the fragile relationships between incarcerated fathers and their children. Through innovative programs, Hope House is providing exciting leadership in this area.

Children and fathers in the prison at Summer Camp 2001.

Carol Fennelly will answer your questions and discuss:

• How Hope House was started.
• How the community came together to make the program successful.
• How an alliance was created with the prison administration.
• What alliances needed to be formed to launch the program and ensure continued success.
• The obstacles faced in starting and running Hope House, and what has been done to overcome them.
• What the future holds for Hope House.

Because the Youngstown prison is closing in August, inmates from the District of Columbia are being transferred to prisons all over the country. Hope House, and its Director Carol Fennelly, will be relocating to a North Carolina corrections facility, where 1,000 of DC’s inmates are being transferred.

Wife and daughter on the video conference system, at Union Temple in Washington, DC. The inmate is in New Mexico.

At Youngstown, Hope House Programs include:

The Father to Child Program: Incarcerated fathers can see and talk with their children through internet technology. Children are able to express themselves creatively through drawings, stories or poems to their father, or get help with their homework. Mothers and fathers are using the program for joint parenting and discipline, when necessary.

The Father to Child Reading Program: Inmates read children’s books into a tape recorder. The tape, the signed book and a picture of the inmate, are mailed home to the inmate’s child, allowing fathers to read to their children.

Carol handing out gifts at the 2000 Christmas party.

The Father to Child Summer Camp: Allowed children to come to Youngstown to spend a week with their fathers. Teachers guided the children and inmates through crafts, drama, games, creative writing and more.

The Hope House Lecture Series: Hope House sponsors a series of lectures and films in the prison to inspire, encourage, motivate and empower inmates. Sports figures, entertainers, religious and community leaders, and others have participated in the program.