By Madeline Fuerstenberg, Community Reporter
One of Eau Claire’s newest community-based nonprofit organizations, Roundtable Revival, will host a kick-off fundraiser on Friday (Jan. 31) in support of its mission to help people who were formerly incarcerated re-enter society following their release.
The event has been moved to the Town Hall room in the JAMF building, 215 Riverfront Terrace, and will be held in its original 6 to 9 p.m. time slot. Entry to the building is through the main door facing Phoenix Park. Street and ramp parking will be available.
Friday’s keynote speaker will be Tamra Oman, a human services program coordinator at the Wisconsin Resource Center. The mental health treatment facility, classified as a prison, is located in Winnebago.
Oman has been an AODA (Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse) program counselor for the past eight years and is the first former prisoner to fill this role in a Wisconsin correctional setting. Her focus over the last 10 years has been working with clients in the criminal justice system who have addiction and mental health challenges.
The Friday night event will include a dry bar and introductions from the founders of Roundtable Revival, which was established last November. There will also be a presentation of the Academy Award-nominated documentary “Knife Skills,” about a group of formerly incarcerated individuals who successfully opened a French restaurant in Ohio.
Panel and audience discussions will follow the film.
Mowry saw need
Don Mowry, a retired social work professor at UW-Eau Claire and co-founder and president of Roundtable Revival, said he wanted to create a program for mentoring people who have been released from prison.
“We need to invest more in helping people recover from mistakes they’ve made” Mowry said. “I think everyone has inherent dignity and worth.”
His interest in criminal justice reform as a professor led to his contact with Sarah Ferber, a local organizer for EXPO, an advocacy group that fights for policy change by working with people affected by the criminal justice system. Ferber is also associate director for EXPO (EX-incarcerated People Organizing) at the state level.
She explained that, while EXPO takes an upstream advocacy approach to criminal justice policy reform, Roundtable Revival will take a downstream approach, meaning its programs will be a bit more individualized and geared toward helping with the reentry process.
Together, along with EXPO’s Kelly Green, Mowry and Ferber established Roundtable Revival to help integrate people back into the community in a way that is fulfilling to them, Ferber said.
“I like the idea of a roundtable and bringing everyone to the table,” Mowry said. “And one of our core values is that we really value people with lived experience. So, we’re really promoting that all our programs include a component – or even a foundation – of peer specialists.”
Peer support to be provided
According to Mowry, anyone with experience recovering from incarceration can become a peer specialist by undergoing a week of training and passing an exam. He said the group’s goal is to involve peer specialists in a variety of Roundtable Revival programs.
These programs, ideally, will include reentry peer support, mentoring and a dry bar called The Foyer. Partnerships from EXPO, JONAH, Grace Lutheran Church and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation will offer Roundtable Revival locations and resources to make some of these programs happen, Mowry said.
“We really want to involve the community more in helping people make the transition back into being a civilian and being a citizen,” he said. “Once people hear stories from the people that are felons, they can, I think, get past any fear or stigma and be more accepting and helpful.”
Both Friday night’s program and The Foyer were originally planned for the State Theatre lobby but those arrangements had to be changed when the building’s water, electricity and heat were shut off last week. Mowry said the organization is now exploring other possible sites for The Foyer.
He added that he would like to see Roundtable Revival eventually take on a permanent staff and director. This staff would include both peer specialists and volunteers.
Next fall, Mowry said Roundtable Revival will, ideally, bring in student involvement and potentially offer an internship through the university’s social work department.
Community involvement is vital
According to Terry “Tab” Butler, treasurer for Roundtable Revival, community involvement is vital for its success.
“We want to change the face of reentry,” Butler said. “And we want a lot of community involvement.”
She said the group’s approach will allow individuals to give back to their community and be a part of something. It is her hope that Friday’s fundraiser on will generate more community interest and involvement.
Butler is also the owner of the Inn Towne, an apartment complex for housing individuals who are reentering society after incarceration. Butler said the idea for the dry bar came from the men who live at the Inn Towne. One of these men, Cody Walker, is set to speak at the kick-off fundraiser.
Butler said this idea was derived from the men’s collective desire for a place to socialize at night without the social pressure of drinking alcohol.
Mowry said he would like to see The Foyer open sometime in the summer. First, Roundtable Revival – which is currently self-funded – must raise money for equipment and staff wages in addition to finding a new location.
He said The Foyer would likely be open three to four nights a week and would offer people an alternative location for socializing, watching sports, playing pool or doing karaoke without drinking.
Mowry said The Foyer may even be beneficial to college students, as his time as a professor revealed to him a strong culture of drinking and peer pressure on campus.
Food and beverages for the Friday evening event are being provided by Just Local Food, and Honest Roast will furnish coffee.
Tickets for the fundraiser are $25. They can be purchased at the door on Friday, on Eventbrite.com or via Butler at (715) 209-6414
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