Today we’d like to introduce you to Abigail Lewis.
Hi Abigail, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Creating Golden Rule ReEntry was a lifetime calling for me. Everything I felt drawn to do and every skillset I’d gathered in my life found expression in Golden Rule ReEntry. We are a trauma informed organization that assists the formerly incarcerated by engaging the community. We foster connection through kinship, networking, classes & services with a focus on personal & professional growth. I had always wanted to work in the prison system but buried that dream along the way. As an adult, I became well versed in most aspects of small businesses and nonprofits and, most importantly, always kept my heart and mind open to people who were struggling or who had been rejected by the mainstream In my late 40s, I read the book Complex PTSD by Pete Walker which explained how children growing up in traumatic or toxic environments develop certain defense mechanisms behaviorally and neurologically – that deepened my understanding of the dysfunction you see everywhere and further ignited compassion within me. When I heard the founder of Homeboy Industries, Father Greg Boyle, speak, it was like being hit by an alchemical lightening bolt. As the founder of the largest gang intervention program in the world, Father Boyle spoke of “extravagant tenderness” being the key to their programs. That resonated deeply within me and I knew that if he could talk like that openly, the world was ready for social services that could lead with love, based on the science. I was now in my early 50s so it was kind of “now or never”, so I took a year to feel out what the need in Southern Oregon was, While keeping my “day jobs” managing the Historic Ashland Armory and working as an admin at an organic farm, I met with community leaders, volunteered at nonprofits working in substance use recovery, attended homeless resource events, did a year long practicum in restorative justice and started volunteering at the Federal ReEntry court. Five years later Golden Rule ReEntry has a robust Drop In Center for people returning to Southern Oregon from prison. We have 4 transitional reentry apartments units connected to our Drop In Center, 3 houses, workforce development and career pathways programs, classes in personal & professional development, financial & digital literacy, health wellbeing & nutrition as well as parenting after prison. We have a safe-haven lounge where people just getting out if prison can feel welcome. Our peer staff all have significant lived experience of incarceration and we have great success because we care deeply about the wellbeing of each precious person who walks through our doors.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
In my personal life, my beloved husband of 22 years, has a paranoid schizophrenia diagnosis. He is my greatest love and has been a profound teacher. Times together have been hard and heartbreaking, but our love held my focus to the “long game”, so I was able to accept his situation and hold space for him to just “be”. Once I stopped trying to “fix” him, he started to thrive and self-heal. He is now my rock and has been instrumental in my approach to working with the formerly incarcerated, because I understand the role of trauma and the deep need everyone has to be seen and accepted in order to heal.
Building an organization from the ground up is hard. You don’t know what you don’t know, so you make mistakes, you put your faith in people who don’t always hold the same vision or have the same work ethic. I’ve had to take the knocks from people who don’t get it or don’t believe in our vision. It’s easy to feel in over your head. You have to find this razors edge of grit, clarity and hard work mixed with trust, hope and openness. Its almost like breathing – there’s the inhale/contraction where you focus in and push hard followed by an exhale/expansion of seeing where the grants, the meetings, the outreach takes you. Our main source of income is grants and it takes tremendous mental effort to write grants that are true to your mission yet meet the focus of the funder.
I deal with burnout, disappointment, fears about making payroll. I’ve had to learn how to have “difficult conversations” (my least favorite thing!) , Prior to starting Golden Rule ReEntry, I used to work for leaders and was accustomed to “doing the work” to run an org, but I had not experienced the unspeakable pressure of being “responsible” for the organization. The buck stops with me. Keeping Golden Rule ReEntry going is my responsibility and there are many nights that I wake up in a panic.
The responsibility of managing large amounts of public money, of housing people, of employing people – are things I take very seriously. Currently, our biggest challenge is to raise enough money to keep our core staff employed. The bigger grants aren’t out there like they were a few years ago. The competition for the smaller grants is increasing because nonprofits are using AI to find grantors and write grants so the funders are seeing a 10x increase in applications. We need to increase our monthly donor base to bring in operating funds.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My work background has been diverse – graduating with a BA in rhetoric (the art of persuasion!!) from Vanderbilt University in 1989, I moved from Nashville TN to Philadelphia PA and became an activist with Greenpeace and the ACLU. Later I moved to San Francisco where I became co-director at the San Francisco office of the Public Interest Research Group, then the Communications Manager at the International Space Sciences OR. During this time, I also became one of the first web designers at the dawn of the internet and was sent to India to build a website for His Holiness the Dalai Lama! In 2002, I moved to Ashland, OR and became the Interim Executive Director of Earthdance International, Executive Assistant to the owner of a restaurant chain and property rental company, then manager of the Historic Ashland Armory’s event space & Live at the Armory’s admin. I started a consulting business to help small businesses get set up and build systems. I am a systems thinker and always concern myself with the structure of information before jumping in to the information itself. I do love a good spreadsheet!!
I am a lifelong learner and a highly empathic person. I care deeply about people, animals and the state of the planet. I see how trauma is collective and cumulative and that simple shifts in understanding, perception and behavior could make a massive difference in the quality of life for so many living things. Nothing likes a cage!
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I learned along the way that failure is not the opposite of success. Failure is what happens over and over on your way to success. As I’ve gotten older, statements like this have shifted from interesting concepts to embodied understanding. I am risk-averse by nature so starting Golden Rule ReEntry was a huge risk for me. Ironically, getting our first 6 figure grant was a very ambivalent experience for me because of the commitment and responsibility that came with it, Running an organization is inherently risky – every program we launch, lease we sign, house we purchase, person we hire, participant we house, and grant we accept has risk. Its something that I am learning to grow more comfortable with. I have noticed I’m much more comfortable with personal risks – because I am resilient and always take the long view on things. I’m not afraid to fail. But when other people are depending on me or can impact Golden Rule ReEntry, the potential cost of risk become exponentially greater.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.goldenrulereentry.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldenrulereentry8
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goldenrulereentry
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/golden-rule-reentry
- Twitter: 70
