Meet Our Grantee-Partner: Reading Between the Lines
Reading Between the Lines (RBL) aims to mitigate the effects of institutional racism and mass incarceration by exposing people involved in the justice system to a lifeline of culture, conversation, analysis, and exploration of works of poetry and other creative genres.
Facilitators Edmund Buck and Emmanuel Garcia leading a session at Cook County Jail. Photo courtesy of Reading Between the Lines.
Mission: Reading Between the Lines creates a unique space for justice-impacted people to exercise critical thinking, reflexivity, and interpersonal communication skills via literature and other forms of art.
Reading Between the Lines (RBL) aims to mitigate the effects of institutional racism and mass incarceration by exposing people involved in the justice system to a lifeline of culture, conversation, analysis, and exploration of works of poetry and other creative genres. It was founded by Joan Shapiro in 2017 as a cohort of 15 participants at an Adult Transition Center (ATC) in Chicago. RBL now serves up to 350 participants a year in the Greater Chicago Area, providing programming in the Cook County Jail, Fox Valley Women's ATC, and Safer North Lawndale ATC.
Communication skills are often overlooked in the carceral system even though they are critical to ensuring positive interpersonal relationships with family, friends, colleagues, and others upon returning to society. RBL aims to strengthen communication and critical thinking skills through exposing people impacted by the carceral system to the arts. RBL facilitators go directly into the carceral system to meet incarcerated adults where they are not only physically, but also emotionally and culturally. RBL’s model creates a space for discussion, leading to improved social-emotional health and ultimately, reductions in recidivism.
Programming operates year-long through four 10-week quarters with 10 sessions offered four times a week for 1-2 hours each. Participants are guided through poetry and other works of expressive literature followed by robust examination and discussion of the selected readings. Participants have expressed that RBL offers a different way of reading by providing a safe space for discussion and reflexivity, empowering them to see better within themselves and fostering healing.
Because people who identify as BIPOC are inordinately impacted by the carceral system, RBL encourages participants to explore how their unique culture and life experiences fit within the wider world of intellectual development. By introducing them to BIPOC writers in addition to exploring more traditionally studied Eurocentric authors, RBL aims to dispel myths of inferiority and discrimination often faced in the criminal justice system. RBL also introduces participants to BIPOC poets who may instill a desire to change their lives for the better and have inspired some participants to become poets themselves.
Program Coordinator Edmund Buck discussing the session reading piece with a participants from Cook County Department of Corrections. Photo courtesy of Reading Between the Lines.
Receiving an Equity in Verse grant from the Poetry Foundation has allowed RBL to expand programming and offer more consistent and structured poetry workshops in jails and ATCs. RBL was able to implement a writing portion to its sessions, providing participants with notebooks for writing in response to prompts provided by RBL session facilitators.
Additionally, support from the Poetry Foundation has helped RBL strengthen partnerships and explore new opportunities for collaboration, including recent work with partner organization, Between Friends. The grant has not only helped RBL meet immediate programming needs but has also contributed to the long-term resilience and growth of the organization.
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