Inside Prison Programs
NVC and Mindfulness Curriculum Description
Programs in the Community
Program History

• In 1998, our first trainings began with one trainer offering 36 days of training in Nonviolent Communication inside prison.
• In 1999, our first trainer offered 984 hours of training in Nonviolent Communication to 47 prisoners.
• In 2000, with two trainers, Freedom Project in Washington prisons offered more than 3,289 hours of training in Nonviolent Communication to 91 prisoners.
• In 2001, now a non-profit organization with a 501 (c) (3) fiscal sponsor and with three trainers, Freedom Project prison trainers in Washington prisons offered nearly 3,998 hours of training in Nonviolent Communication to 136 prisoners.
• In 2002, with four trainers, Freedom Project prison trainers and volunteers offered more than 5,180 hours of training in Nonviolent Communication and mindfulness practice in Washington prisons to 164 prisoners.
• In 2003, with a growing team of five trainers, Freedom Project trainers and volunteers offered more than 6,093 hours of training in Nonviolent Communication and mindfulness practice to 147 prisoners.
• In 2004, Freedom Project became a registered non-profit corporation in the State of Washington.  Freedom Project prison trainers and volunteers offered more than 7,298 hours of training in Nonviolent Communication and mindfulness practice to 147 prisoners.
• In 2005, Freedom Project trainers and volunteers in Washington prisons offered more than 6,244 hours of training in Nonviolent Communication and mindfulness practice to 169 prisoners.  Community Circles began this year to bring together Returnees and community members to create safer communities through Nonviolent Communication and mindfulness.
• In 2006, Freedom Project prison trainers and volunteers offered more than 5,557 hours of training in Nonviolent Communication and mindfulness practice in Washington prisons to 160 prisoners.  In May, Freedom Project obtained it’s own 501 (c) (3) non-profit tax status from the IRS.
• In 2007 we provided 8,091 hours of training to 328 prisoners.  Lucy Leu, one of our founders, conducted a nine-month-long in-depth peacekeeping training for Freedom Project staff, board members, returnees and volunteers.  This training was conducted to increase the depth of understanding among all Freedom Project members of the tools of nonviolence that we teach.  We also began offering classes in the practice of mindfulness at the Twin Rivers Unit in Monroe and at the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Purdy.  Community Circle was reorganized and grew steadily throughout the year.
• In 2008 we expanded our services to a fourth prison, the Washington State Reformatory in Monroe, and are teaching more workshops at the women’s prison at Purdy.  Altogether, prison trainers and volunteers have offered 8,144 hours of facilitated workshops and classes to 328 prisoners.  Our paid staff is also growing and we now have two full-time employees—an Office Administrator and a Community Program Manager—as well as three part-time staff members.  In the community we added NVC trainings and a speaker’s bureau and started the Safe Returns Mentor Program to provide support for prisoners as they are released from prison.  Antioch University is conducting two research projects to study the effects of our trainings on prisoners’ attitudes, levels of violence and recidivism rates.  Data collection was conducted in fall 2008 and results are expected by mid-2009.  And we are particularly proud of Dow Gordon, a former prisoner and one of the original members of Freedom Project, who was selected out of 900 volunteers at the Monroe Correctional Complex as their Volunteer of the Year.