This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Dear Friends,
We want to thank our community of supporters for checking in on us and our clients during this time. Your love and kindness truly means so much right now.
We also want to provide a quick update. Things are moving quickly and will likely change. So, this is the current state of affairs as of 9a on Tuesday, March 23.
- The Colorado Department of Corrections has suspended all visitors and volunteers from entering any facility, including TRI’s educational programming at Denver Women’s Correctional Facility.
- All TRI staff are utilizing phone and video conference to connect with participants (who do not have technology restrictions) for the purposes of enrollment, intake, assessment and support service requests. We understand that utilizing technology inherently causes anxiety and challenges when providing TRI’s services. We will do our best to maintain best practices, provide emotional and technological support when needed, and be flexible with participants who choose not to engage during this pandemic.
- The TRI Welcome Back Center in Longmont is temporarily closed. We are working closely with Central Longmont Presbyterian Church to set-up exterior hand washing stations for when we are able to reopen our doors (in accordance with government restrictions).
While our team remotely wraps services around current participants on the outside, we are asking for your help in supporting the women who are still incarcerated. The suspension of visitors and volunteers means that they are entering into a period of severe isolation. You can help by writing a kind letter or note to a woman on the inside. More details can be found here. Please postmark your mail to TRI by Monday, March 30.
We will also continue to fight for criminal justice reform. During this time, we are seeing people who are currently incarcerated being subjected to significant risk and health concerns. Please follow us on Facebook for the latest on what is happening in criminal justice in Colorado and the Country.
In the meantime, please let us know if you have questions. We may be a bit delayed in responding, but appreciate you and your concerns at this difficult time. Please stay healthy and, most importantly, stay home!
Best,
Emily Kleeman, LCSW
Executive Director
