PRESS RELEASE: Mission: Launch Co-Founder and Executive Vice President Named A 2016 Soros Justice Fellow
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
Mission: Launch Co-Founder and Executive Vice President Named A 2016 Soros Justice Fellow
WASHINGTON, DC June 20, 2016 – While criminal justice reform continues to be a major topic of conversation and debate, from Capitol Hill to the talking points of Presidential presumptive nominees, Mission: Launch is pleased to announce that Executive Vice President and co-founder, Teresa Hodge, has been named a 2016 Soros Justice Fellow by the Open Society Foundations. The foundation is awarding $1.2 million to fund the criminal justice reform work of fifteen (15) announced recipients. Projects vary in focus, including: reentry advocacy, creating prison to school pipelines and developing humanizing media/digital storytelling campaigns. As a member of the class of 2016, Hodge’s stipend will enable her to launch an eighteen (18) month, criminal justice reform, advocacy campaign focused on Incarceration and the Digital Divide; this campaign will promote tech education and create a pathway for tech opportunities with the goal of helping to shrink the digital divide experienced by formerly incarcerated persons, who are being navigated back to the core of society.
“During the 5 years I was incarcerated, I realized technology was revolutionizing how people engaged in all aspects of life. I went from someone who was a tech early adopter to being on the other side of the digital divide,” says Hodge. “Planning for my own reentry, I purposed to use technology to help me personally reintegrate into the workplace. I’m excited to spend the next 18-months advocating for technology inclusion for those of us with a prior arrest and/or conviction record. Being locked-up in prison should not keep one locked-out of opportunity for the rest their life”
Read moreMEDIA ADVISORY: Advancing Criminal Justice Reform in Baltimore, Local Civic Innovators Reconvene to Build Prototypes for Post Incarceration Reentry Solutions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA ADVISORY
Advancing Criminal Justice Reform in Baltimore, Local Civic Innovators Reconvene to
Build Prototypes for Post Incarceration Reentry Solutions
BALTIMORE, MD, June 16, 2016 – Just four months after hosting the Rebuilding Reentry
Design and Data Day, its inaugural Baltimore social justice event focused specifically on post
incarceration reentry, Mission: Launch, Inc. is reconvening city stakeholders (including more
than 20 recently released residents) committed to building viable prototypes for future
implementation.
The Rebuilding Reentry Baltimore Build Day is a one-day event assembling engaged
citizens, from Baltimore and Washington, DC.; attendees have the collective focus of improving
service delivery outcomes for the formerly incarcerated and successfully navigating Baltimore
residents with arrest and conviction records back to the core of society. Based upon systems
gaps identified during the human centered design process of the February event, these reentry
prototypes will advance community sourced ideas, inclusive of the following areas: family
reunification services, probation/parole guidance, vital records/state ID provision, peer
mentorship and anti-stigma efforts.
Read morePRESS RELEASE: MISSION: LAUNCH PARTICIPATES IN TWO INTERACTIVE PANELS AT THE HISTORIC SXSW 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
MISSION: LAUNCH PARTICIPATES IN TWO INTERACTIVE PANELS AT THE HISTORIC SXSW 2016
WASHINGTON, DC., March 8, 2016 - Mission: Launch, Inc. is honored to announce the organization’s participation in two panels at this year’s showcase of tech, talent and innovation, South by Southwest (SXSW). Executive Director/Co-founder, Laurin Hodge, Executive Vice President (EVP)/Co-founder, Teresa Hodge and Director of Communications/Special Projects, Bryn Phillips will all make their first SXSW panelist presentations during the five (5) day SXSW Interactive. A Keynote Conversation featuring President Barack Obama on Friday, March 11th was recently announced as the highlight of this 30th anniversary event; First Lady Michelle Obama will be the opening Keynote at SXSW Music on Wednesday, March 16, marking the first time that a sitting President and First Lady have ever participated.
Friday, March 11th, the Mission: Launch Co-founders, Laurin and Teresa Hodge, will be hosting a panel inclusive of Flikshop, Founder/CEO, Marcus Bullock. “Prison Tech Boom: Social Outcomes & Entrepreneurs” will address the market and industry demands for prison/jail technology, ways tech improves social outcomes and self-sufficiency for the formerly incarcerated and the growing interest & need for diversity in tech - inclusive of the 1-in-4 Americans with arrest and conviction histories. This panel convenes at 3:30pm CST at the Hilton Austin Downtown, 500 E. 4th St., Salon E.
“I am excited to host this panel. I look forward to interjecting conversations into SXSW that speak to (1) expanding the definition of diversity to include those locked out of more traditional work paths, (2) a growing demand for tech solutions that can adapt to prisons/jails, as well as (3) civic tech and the entrepreneurs who use their lived experiences to build the solutions they wish to see,” says Executive Director, Laurin Hodge. “Leading a panel with my mother and business partner, alongside our professional colleague, Marcus, is going to make for a friendly and fun conversation about the future of civic tech.”
Read moreBig Changes Looming on the Criminal Justice Reform Horizon
The second week of July was invigorating to those of us occupying the criminal justice reform space. President Obama became the first sitting President to, in less than one week, commute the excessive sentences of 46 people incarcerated for non-violent drug offenses, make an entire speech calling for major overhauls in criminal justice reform and prisoner rehabilitation and then followed up his “call to action” with a tour of a Oklahoma’s Federal prison, El Reno.
For decades, proposed criminal justice reform proposed legislation has been repeatedly stalled in Congressional committees. Is this finally the time for major reforms? Despite major bipartisan support, opinions seem to differ. What most people can agree upon is the need to dismantle and rebuild this ineffectual system which, at the taxpayer cost of $80M, fails to rehabilitate or educate incarcerated persons. Most people would also agree that there is a necessity for beneficial re-entry programs. In our technological society, platforms need to be developed that serve as effective and efficient pathways to employment and self-sufficiency for men and women exiting jails and prisons.
With thought leaders like Senator Cory Booker, Pat Nolan, Van Jones, Michelle Alexander and Glenn Martin spearheading discussions on reducing mass incarceration, major reforms feel like they are looming on the horizon. What legislation Congress will actually agree upon and pass remains to be seen.
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ONLINE ARTICLES/PODCASTS
2023
- , Sept 2023
- , April 2023
- Future Ready Now Hackathon: Washington, DC, April 2023
- Charity Matters Podcast Episode 57 - Mission: Launch, April 2023
- Black History Month Celebration at the White House, Feb 2023
2022
- Future Ready Now Hackathon: Delaware, Dec 2022
- AAB Justice Sandox with Aventiv Technologies, Nov 2022
- Echoing Green Big Bold Benefit, Oct 2022
- AWS GovSummit, Oct 2022
- Worth, Wealth and Health Retreat, Sept 2022
- Equitech Tuesday, Sept 2022
- MLK Luncheon / NFL Event, Sept 2022
- AWS GovTechStart Member and Partner Event at Capital One Arena, Sept 2022
- Kapor, Sept 2022
- BLACK CLOUD® TECH SUMMIT, A tech hub for black trailblazers, June 2022
- AWS GovTechStart Government Innovation Workshop, May 2022
- "City Solutions Forum" Featuring New Bedford - LaunchPad 11, April 2022
June 2016
- Open Society Foundations: Press Release, Foundations Announce 2016 Soros Justice Fellows
- Technical.ly Baltimore, Civic Hackers Are Getting Back Together to Build Re-entry Solutions This Weekend
May 2016
- SiriusXM, Bill Press Show w/ Guest Host Dr. Julianne Malveaux May 27, 2016 (Interview begins at 1:12:00)
March 2016
- Texas Observer, New Technologies Connect Prisoners to the Outside World
February 2016
- Sunlight Foundation: Guest Blog, Laurin Hodge OpenGov Voices: Unlocking Prison Re-entry Data
- The Baltimore Sun, Event Focuses on Helping Felons Return to Workplace After Release
- SiriusXM, Michael Smerconish Show w/ Guest Host Jason Johnson
- Byte Back, What You’ve Missed: Returning Citizens & the Digital Divide
- Technical.ly Baltimore, This Re-entry Nonprofit is Set to Hold Its First Baltimore Data Event
- The Washington Post, Coffee@WaPo, The Long Road Back
- The Washington Post, Coffee@WaPo, Race Is Always the Elephant in the Room
December 2015
- Change Makers, Home Again - What Now?
- DC Inno, 9 DMV Startups That Just Launched This Year
November 2015
- MSNBC, Melissa Harris-Perry Show, Foot Soldiers of the Week: Organization Seeks to Smooth Re-entry for Former Inmates
- BLIS.FM, Hope and Wellness Show, Rebuilding Re-entry
October 2015
- NAACP, PSA Video, A Fair Chance: #BanTheBox
September 2015
- Next City, Will D.C. Be the First U.S. City to Escape the Prison Trap?
- Technical.ly DC, Rebuilding Re-entry Hackathon is back on this fall
- Reentry Central - The National Website on Reentry
- TechCrunch, Former Prisoners Rethink Criminal Justice through Entrepreneurship and Civic Technology
- NPR; WAMU 88.5 Washington, DC, New Startup Helps Former Inmates Launch Their Own Businesses
August 2015
- Washington City Paper, New Site Helps Determine If Criminal Records Are Sealable
- CRVIII, A Startup Helping Prisoners Start Over
- Tech.Co, DC’s Mission: Launch Wants to Turn Former Prisoners into Entrepreneurs
- DC Inno, This DC Startup Aims to Help People Returning from Prison to Become Tech Entrepreneurs
- U.S. Small Business Administration: Blog Post, Grand Slam Day for America’s High-Growth Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and Its Startups
- Street Sense, White House Seeks to Close “Opportunity Gap,” Honors Entrepreneurs
- Technical.ly DC, Mission: Launch to Open Accelerator for Returning Citizens
- Technical.ly DC, At first White House Demo Day, Obama Calls for Inclusive Entrepreneurship
- U.S. Small Business Administration: Press Release, SBA Boosts Economic Impact of Accelerators with $4.4 Million in Prizes
- U.S. Small Business Growth Accelerator Fund Award Announced during 1st White House Demo Day
July 2015
-
B.Stigma Free: Guest Blog, Teresa Hodge: I Went to Prison - How's That for an Ice Breaker?
June 2015
- A Just Cause Unseen Heroes for Advocacy Groups (Podcast), Teresa Hodge
- Street Sense, Hactivist Seek to Streamline Road for Returning Citizens
- The Daily Beast, The Real Felony: Denying Prisoners The Right To Vote
- Gospel Driven Entrepreneur (Podcast), Laurin Hodge: Eliminating The Social Stigma of Returning Prisoners
May 2015
- Technical.ly DC, Discuss Civic Tech's Role in Helping Returning Citizens: Rebuilding Re-entry Demo Day
November 2014
- Technical.ly DC, Rebuilding Re-Entry Hackathon
- Code for DC: Blog Post, DC Open211 at the Rebuilding Re-entry Hackathon
July 2014
- Points of Light, Recognition Award
May, 2014
- Ashoka Changemakers & American Express, 2014 Emerging Social Innovators Announced
March 2014
- Virgin Unite: Guest Blog, The One Thing Every Disruptive Woman Needs
- Womenetics, The Do Gooder
November 2013
June 2013
April 2013
- Technical.ly Baltimore, Mission: Launch Needs $25K to Build Ex-Offenders’ Reentry Tracking Tool
November 2012
- Technical.ly Baltimore, Mission Launch Founder Receives Starting Bloc Fellowship
August 2012
- Technical.ly Baltimore, Mission: Launch Jobs Program Turns Former Into Budding Entrepreneurs
May 2012
- Maryland Biz Now, O'Malley Taps 4 in Pitch Competition
VIDEO CLIPS
- Teresa Hodge: I Did My Research From Prison
- Teresa Hodge & Laurin Hodge: Women Bring Balance To the Room
- Laurin Hodge: The Year 2050 In Review
- Laurin Hodge & Simone LaRoche: Calling All Gen Y Women
- Simone LaRoche: Why I Joined This Project
Blog
Reflections on Joining Echoing Green
Posted by Teresa Hodge · June 22, 2018 2:06 AM · 1 reaction
Moving to a Hybrid Model
Posted by Teresa Hodge · June 19, 2018 4:15 AM · 1 reaction
Introducing R3 Score
Posted by Teresa Hodge · June 19, 2018 3:32 AM · 1 reaction