https://live-rootandrebound.pantheonsite.io/our-team/noelle-scheer/
My name is Noelle Scheer and I am a Junior Politics Major with a Race and Ethnic Studies Minor. This semester I have been interning for Root & Rebound. Based out of Oakland, CA, Root & Rebound is a national nonprofit whose mission is to restore power to communities impacted by mass incarceration. The Root & Rebound team includes lawyers and advocates, working towards their mission in a three pronged model: direct services, education and policy reform and litigation, working on reentry programs, keeping families together, achieving fair and equal trials, intergenerational healing, and finding employment for those harmed.
I first became passionate about prison abolishment and restoring justice during my first year at Whitman
College. In 2018, I participated in a fundraiser Eliza Davidian (Class of ’21) led for the STAR Project. As I began to understand the harms of mass incarceration, I thought about how at Whitman we are two miles from the Washington State Penitentiary, similarly, in my childhood home, I live three miles from California State Prison – San Quentin. Although I have spent my entire life living in close proximity to these prisons, I grew up privileged to be able to distance myself from the harms of incarceration. Growing up in Marin County this unspoken metaphorical distance was pervasive. Most residents live in the comfort of psychologically distancing themselves from San Quentin. Starting in elementary through high school, teachers purposely avoided including San Quentin as part of our community.
Since volunteering with Eliza, I have focused course essays and dissertations on mass incarceration, the War On Drugs, private prisons constitutionality, racial policing, and healthcare within incarceration. On top of my academic interest in prison reform, the opportunity to intern at Root & Rebound has allowed me to have a more hands-on approach to reform. Working for Root & Rebound allows me to begin to give back to those impacted by mass incarceration. Furthermore, I am learning ways to further educate myself, the Marin community, and my peers. Most importantly, the work Root & Rebound is doing helps uplift the voices of those directly impacted by mass incarceration. At R&R I have had the honor to be included as a member of the development team. The dedication and passion the team has for the cause of restorative justice is contagious. The tireless work and conviction go beyond anything I have previously experienced. This month R&R introduced a new initiative that is dedicated to raising awareness of the harms of the War On Drugs. R&R published A New Leaf: A How-to Guide for Successful Reentry After a Cannabis Conviction. This is their first project under the New Leaf Initiative.
A little more on Root & Rebound:
R&R hotline accepts collect calls from prisons and jails. 1:1 direct legal services through R&R’s hotline have helped clients face issues related to family reunification, housing, and deportation proceedings (watch this video!) R&R strives to ensure their clients become advocates, not only for themselves, but for their communities. This work helps lift up those most impacted by hyperincarceration. Also, Root & Rebound works on policy reform, such as AB 990, AB 328, Fair Chance Housing, and AB 960.
AB 990 (Santiago) – R&R is a leading co-sponsor for AB 990, which restores visitation rights to incarcerated people. Now, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation won’t be permitted to arbitrarily deny visits between incarcerated people and their loved ones any more. This policy was and currently is crucial in the time of COVID-19, when family connection has never been more important.
AB 328 (Chiu) – R&R is a leading co-sponsor on AB 328, which will repurpose over $100m in annual savings from prison closures and reductions in the prison population to fund a new statewide Reentry Housing and Workforce Development Program. Many of the current reentry housing resources offer substandard conditions and impose punitive living conditions. This bill turns the tide of reentry programming to increase the share of local community based organizations that are vested in supporting returning community members.
This semester, I have brought my knowledge gained from Root & Rebound to my classes. In Professor Solomon Lemma’s course on Seminar on Law, Society, and Government, I am writing a dissertation on private prisons and race-based inequalities. I plan to write my Politics Senior thesis on cannabis justice and a means for expunging criminal records related to drug felonies. Furthermore, I hope to go to law school to become a criminal defense attorney. Root & Rebound has given me the opportunity to begin to educate myself in conjunction with the ability to share the information I have acquired to advocate for substantial change. I am so grateful for this opportunity to volunteer at Root & Rebound!
Experiences like Noelle’s are made possible by the Whitman Internship Grant, which provides funding for students to participate in unpaid internships at nonprofit, some for-profit, and government organizations. We are happy to be sharing blog posts from students who were supported by either a summer, fall, spring, or year-long grants at organizations, businesses, and research labs all around the world. To learn how you could secure a Whitman Internship Grant or host a Whitman intern at your organization, send an email to Assistant Director for Internship Programs, Mitzy Rodriguez