By Madeline Fuerstenberg, Community Reporter
One of Eau Claire’s newest community-based nonprofit organizations, Roundtable Revival, will host a kick-off fundraiser on Jan. 31 in support of its mission to help people who were formerly incarcerated re-enter society following their release.
The organization, founded in November, will host the event from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the lobby of the State Theatre. Profits from this fundraiser will go toward the establishment of “The Foyer,” an alcohol-free bar set to be located in the theater lobby.
The Friday night event will include a dry bar, introductions from the founders of Roundtable Revival, a keynote speaker (still to be finalized) and presentation of the film “Knife Skills,” about a group of formerly incarcerated individuals who successfully opened a French restaurant in Ohio.
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, co-founder of Roundtable Revival and 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 a nonprofit that would 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 The Foyer. Partnership 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.”
Mowry said he would like to see Roundtable Revival eventually take on a permanent staff and director. This staff would include 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 the success of Roundtable Revival.
“We want to change the face of reentry,” Butler said. “And we want a lot of community involvement.”
Butler said this program will allow individuals to give back to their community and be a part of something. It is her hope that the fundraiser on Jan. 31 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. Joe Luginbill, president of the Luginbill Children’s Foundation and leader of the State Theatre reopening, offered the theater lobby as the location for this dry bar, Butler said.
Mowry said he would like to see The Foyer officially open sometime in the summer. First, Roundtable Revival – which is currently self-funded – must raise money for equipment and staff wages. Mowry said The Foyer would likely be open three to four nights a week and it would offer people with 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.
Tickets for the Roundtable Revival kick-off fundraiser are $25. They can be purchased at the door on the day of the event, on Eventbrite.com or via Butler at (715) 209-6414.
If you found this story useful, please remember there are costs involved in providing this kind of community coverage. We have no paywall, and we rely on our readers to help us meet the costs of reporting news and information you often won’t find elsewhere.
An annual CVPost membership is $50, but contributions of any amount also matter. Please consider helping community supported journalism survive by clicking the Donate button below.