News &#8211; Embraced:Fully

Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

Join our mailing list to receive an invite link to our Zoom meetings.

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.

Embraced:Fully Angel Team workshop meeting on October 16 at 6:00 pm (Pacific) – You’re invited!

Gabriel Serafini — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 23:35:26 +0000

Join us on Thursday, October 16, 2025 at 6:00 pm (Pacific) for our monthly Embraced:Fully Angel Team Workshop Zoom meeting. Guests are always welcome!

In this meeting we explore how we can support returning citizens as they return home from incarceration, as well as how we can support their journey and path to freedom. We discuss topics including: What is an Angel Team? Who can be part of one? How do we start them up, and what role can our churches play in this meaningful work?

Embraced:Fully Angel Teams help qualified individuals coming out of prison find housing, transportation, employment, and most importantly a welcoming church community.

Agenda for the call:

Introductions & Announcements – Introduce yourself, are you currently working with any returning community members (or planning to)?
Regional Angel Team Updates & Returning Community Member check-ins – sharing progress, challenges, and accomplishments.
Visiting and Corresponding Volunteer Chaplain check-ins – updates from the field.
Topic for Discussion: Day 1 of release – now what!?
Confirm next meeting dates, wrap up meeting.

This is a monthly working meeting for Embraced:Fully Angel Teams across the nation, and also people interested in volunteering to either start or join one, or participate remotely. Angel Teams help returning community members succeed in not going back to prison or jail.

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support Embraced:Fully Angel Teams and Returning Citizens

Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.

Join our mailing list to receive an invite link to our Zoom meetings.

Our mission: In partnership and collaboration with others, we support inmates in their moral and spiritual journey for successful reentry with the assistance of Angel Team members who help find community, faith-based connections, housing, employment, transportation, friendship and mentorship.

Interview with Rob Smith, San Diego County Director, Center for Employment Opportunities

Gabriel Serafini — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 01:21:28 +0000

Watch the replay of our interview with Rob Smith, San Diego County Director, Center for Employment Opportunities:

About our guest

Rob Smith is the Site Director of the CEO San Diego office, overseeing all aspects of the Social Enterprise and our vocational services. Rob has 20 years experience as a nonprofit leader, specifically focused in underserved communities. He is also a lived experience expert in understanding the challenges of extreme poverty, domestic violence, sexual assault, drug addiction and incarceration from early childhood until his release from state prison in 2000 that was the existence of his life. Overseeing the CEO office in San Diego Robert has been able to combine the best of both his worlds; his relentless hustle and grind mentality has propelled San Diego’s office to the second largest site next to NYC; his deep understanding of and ability to partner/broker between justice involved communities and public systems has contributed to expanding San Diego CEO’s footprint across the local region.

About CEO

Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) offers individuals returning home from incarceration the ongoing support necessary to build career capital and financial stability. We believe that everyone, regardless of their past, deserves the chance to work toward a stronger future for themselves, their families, and their communities.

As the largest reentry employment provider in the country, CEO is using our scale, experience, and data – backed by our participants’ feedback on what works – to change the way government invests in criminal justice and workforce development.

Links:

Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO)

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support Embraced:Fully Angel Teams and Returning Citizens

Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

Join our mailing list to receive an invite link to our Zoom meetings.

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.

Embraced:Fully Angel Team workshop meeting on September 18 at 6:00 pm (Pacific) – You’re invited to attend!

Gabriel Serafini — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 01:59:21 +0000

Join us on Thursday, September 18, 2025 at 6:00 pm (Pacific) for our monthly Embraced:Fully Angel Team Workshop Zoom meeting. Guests are always welcome!

Embraced:Fully Angel Teams help qualified individuals coming out of prison find housing, transportation, employment, and most importantly a welcoming church community.

Agenda for the call:

Introductions & Announcements – Introduce yourself, are you currently working with any returning community members (or planning to)?
Regional Angel Team Updates & Returning Community Member check-ins – sharing progress, challenges, and accomplishments.
Visiting and Corresponding Volunteer Chaplain check-ins – updates from the field.
Topic for Discussion: Housing, employment, and future success
Confirm next meeting dates, wrap up meeting.

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support Embraced:Fully Angel Teams and Returning Citizens

Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.

Join our mailing list to receive an invite link to our Zoom meetings.

Our mission: In partnership and collaboration with others, we support inmates in their moral and spiritual journey for successful reentry with the assistance of Angel Team members who help find community, faith-based connections, housing, employment, transportation, friendship and mentorship.

Interview with Libby Hoffman, President of of Catalyst for Peace

Gabriel Serafini — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 17:16:13 +0000

Watch the replay of our interview with Libby Hoffman, President of of Catalyst for Peace:

About our guest

Wise woman and practical visionary, Libby Hoffman has worked for more than 30 years at the nexus of international peacebuilding, organizational development, spirituality, and social transformation. She is the president of Catalyst for Peace, a private foundation she established in 2003 to grow a new architecture for peace — one that works from the inside out, where those most impacted by violence and war lead in building peace and restoring social wholeness.

For over 15 years, Libby has focused her work in Sierra Leone, as co-founder, funder, and ongoing program partner of Fambul Tok (Family Talk), a community-led post-war reconciliation program rooted in local culture and tradition. In response to the 2014 Ebola epidemic, she helped adapt the Fambul Tok approach into a groundbreaking national policy framework for people- and community-led planning and development. The framework has become a model for transformative partnerships between international donors, national governments, and civil society.

Libby produced the award-winning documentary film Fambul Tok and co-authored a companion book of the same name. A former political science professor at Principia College, she has degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Williams College. The mother of three grown children, she divides her time between southern Maine and Washington, DC.

Links:

Catalyst for Peace

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support Embraced:Fully Angel Teams and Returning Citizens

Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

Join our mailing list to receive an invite link to our Zoom meetings.

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.

Embraced:Fully Angel Team workshop meeting on August 21 at 6:00 pm (Pacific) – You’re invited to attend!

Gabriel Serafini — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 20:12:30 +0000

Marlon Walker and Tina Huston at the 2024 Embraced & Empowered Prison and Reentry Ministries Conference

Join us on Thursday, August 21, 2025 at 6:00 pm (Pacific) for our monthly Embraced:Fully Angel Team Workshop Zoom meeting. Guests are always welcome!

Embraced:Fully Angel Teams help qualified individuals coming out of prison find housing, transportation, employment, and most importantly a welcoming church community.

Agenda for the call:

Introductions & Announcements – Introduce yourself, are you currently working with any returning community members (or planning to)?
Regional Angel Team Updates & Returning Community Member check-ins – sharing progress, challenges, and accomplishments.
Visiting and Corresponding Volunteer Chaplain check-ins – updates from the field.
Topic for Discussion: Staying in touch with program participants, celebrating progress
Confirm next meeting dates, wrap up meeting.

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support Embraced:Fully Angel Teams and Returning Citizens

Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.

Join our mailing list to receive an invite link to our Zoom meetings.

Our mission: In partnership and collaboration with others, we support inmates in their moral and spiritual journey for successful reentry with the assistance of Angel Team members who help find community, faith-based connections, housing, employment, transportation, friendship and mentorship.

Interview with Eddie Ellis, Co-Director of Outreach & Member Services at the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth [Video]

Gabriel Serafini — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 16:58:36 +0000

Watch the replay of our interview with Eddie Ellis, Co-Director of Outreach & Member Services at the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth and author of Change is Possible: I Never Gave Up, a personal memoir of his experiences:

About our guest

Eddie Ellis joined the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth team in early 2018. He works with ICAN members across the country, connecting them to each other and with local resources. He also works with other directly impacted communities, including the family members of juvenile lifers.

Eddie, a native Washingtonian, was arrested and charged with murder at the age of 16 — he was later found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 22 years in prison. He served 15 years and finished the rest of his time on parole.

Eddie came home in 2006 and since that time he has worked on a variety of issues, including reentry, solitary confinement, and on behalf of people with disabilities who are in the system and coming home. He has served on the board of directors of a national legal organization, and helped with client center training for lawyers, probation officers and social workers. He is an advocate for those in the system, a mentor, and a motivational speaker. His lived experience as a formerly incarcerated person provides invaluable insight and depth into his work that allows him to connect with and engage the community he serves.

Links:

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support Embraced:Fully Angel Teams and Returning Citizens

Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

Join our mailing list to receive an invite link to our Zoom meetings.

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.

“Welcoming Returning Citizens” Introductory Workshop – Video replay

Gabriel Serafini — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 00:09:47 +0000

Watch the replay of this excellent workshop:

More than 1,000,000 prison inmates now have access to the Christian Science Bible Lesson on their tablets.

When they reenter society, some of these seekers will be looking for a welcoming church community.

Are we ready?

Whether your church currently has an Institutional Committee or not, this is an opportunity to learn more about the new seekers who might be visiting your church soon.

This workshop explores:

Current Christian Science activities and publications in prisons and jails
Personal stories of moral character transformation and finding church homes
How to prayerfully address concerns
Correcting common misperceptions
Resources, training and guides for volunteers
How to participate in the National Angel Team Network to help support individuals in their path to freedom

Invited speakers:

Bob “Woody” Woodard, Marilyn McDonald, Marshall Reddick, Byron Alexander, Kenyard White, Brian Abbott, Elizabeth Arnett

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support Embraced:Fully Angel Teams and Returning Citizens

Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

Join our mailing list to receive an invite link to our Zoom meetings.

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.

Interview with Jenny England, Content Partnerships Manager at Edovo [Video]

Gabriel Serafini — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 21:11:48 +0000

Watch the replay of our interview with Jenny England, Content Partnerships Manager at Edovo.

About our guest

Jenny England is the Content Partnerships Manager for Edovo, the largest digital learning platform for incarcerated people in the United States. Prior to Edovo, she worked in creative direction and program development for a variety of non-profit organizations, both internationally and domestically. She currently lives in central Pennsylvania with her best friend and their opinionated dogs. When she’s not working, she’s most likely to be found on a pickleball court.

Links:

Edovo

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support Embraced:Fully Angel Teams and Returning Citizens

Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

Join our mailing list to receive an invite link to our Zoom meetings.

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.

Embraced:Fully Angel Team workshop meeting on June 19 at 6:00 pm (Pacific) – You’re invited to attend!

Gabriel Serafini — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 21:33:38 +0000

Join us on Thursday, June 18, 2025 at 6:00 pm (Pacific) for our monthly Embraced:Fully Angel Team Workshop Zoom meeting. Guests are always welcome!

In this meeting we typically explore how we can support returning citizens as they return home from incarceration, as well as how we can support their journey and path to freedom. We discuss topics including: What is an Angel Team? Who can be part of one? How do we start them up, and what role can our churches play in this meaningful work?

Embraced:Fully Angel Teams help qualified individuals coming out of prison find housing, transportation, employment, and most importantly a welcoming church community.

Agenda for the call:

Introductions & Announcements – Introduce yourself, are you currently working with any returning community members (or planning to)?
Regional Angel Team Updates & Returning Community Member check-ins – sharing progress, challenges, and accomplishments.
Visiting and Corresponding Volunteer Chaplain check-ins – updates from the field.
Topic for Discussion: Issues we might encounter when setting up a new Angel Team
Confirm next meeting dates, wrap up meeting.

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Marshall, Byron, and David after Byron’s first church service

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Support Embraced:Fully Angel Teams and Returning Citizens

Note: Please be sure to select “Embraced Fully” in the “Fund” drop-down list on the donation page.

If you would like to support the work of Embraced:Fully with a check instead of an online donation, please make it out to:

The Principle Foundation
Memo: Restricted – Embraced:Fully Project
Mail to: 10670 Barkley St, Overland Park, KS 66212-1861

Please remember to specify Embraced:Fully as the program you’d like to support.

Embraced:Fully is a fiscally sponsored program of The Principle Foundation, registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, tax ID number 43-0816306.