Susan Burton: Her Journey from Prison, to Recovery, to Activist

302 North Dunton Avenue,Arlington Heights IL 60004

24 September, 2022

Description

Susan Burton, an award-winning prison reform activist, executive director of the A New Way of Life Re-entry Project nonprofit, and author of Becoming Ms. Burton will share how she overcame tragedy, addiction, and incarceration to become a leading social justice advocate helping formerly incarcerated women get back on their feet as part of First Presbyterian Church of Arlington Heights’ Annual Speaker Series. “Ms. Burton has dedicated her life to prison reform, social justice, and raising the visibility of the barriers and struggles formerly incarcerated women face while helping them find lasting freedom, rebuild their lives, and heal with dignity,” said Reverend Alex Lang. “Overcoming a lifetime of personal hardships to find her purpose and help others break the cycle of incarceration and bring resources to areas plagued by poverty and over-incarceration through her nonprofit is a testament to her grit, resilience, and perseverance.” Ms. Burton established her nonprofit, A New Way of Life Re-Entry Project, in 1998. The original single re-entry home in South Los Angeles is now a holistic re-entry program. It provides formerly incarcerated women with housing, family reunification services, legal services, leadership development, workforce and education development, and a host of other essential programs and services for successful re-entry. It has provided housing to more than 1,500 formerly incarcerated women, helped reunite more than 400 women with their children, and provided pro bono legal services to more than 3,400 community members with conviction histories. Her memoir, Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women, traces the trajectory of her personal trials with poverty, abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, and loss that led to nearly 20 years of cycling in and out of prison. Becoming Ms. Burton received the inaugural Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice in 2017 and a 2018 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in the Biography/Autobiography category. In 2010, CNN named Ms. Burton a Top Ten Hero and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government awarded her the prestigious Citizen Activist Award. She received the Encore Purpose Prize in 2012 and the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award in 2014. The Los Angeles Times named her as one of 18 New Civil Rights Leaders in the nation on the 50th Anniversary of Selma and the Voting Rights Act in 2015. We will also be livestreaming the event, so if you cannot make it in-person, you can join us at firstpresah.org/experience/livestream.