WOMENS STORYBOOK PROJECT OF TEXAS
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Mission Statement
The mission of Women’s Storybook Project (WSP) is to nurture, improve and sustain relationships between incarcerated women and their children through volunteer-led programs that promote books and reading as tools for meaningful connections. WSP is an inter-faith program that has been in operation since 2003. WSP has been bestowed with many honors and awards including a three-time recipient of the Texas Dept Criminal Justice Volunteer Award. Please view our short documentary to get a "visual" on our services --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJavdRsI_Mw&feature=youtu.be
About This Cause
WSP dispatches volunteers to Texas female prisons to record the voices of mothers in prison as they read from storybooks intended for their children at home with caretakers. Female prisoners, selected by merit, also add a personalized message to each recording before it is mailed to the child along with a new copy of the selected book. For continuity, mothers record a new storybook for each child every month for four months. WSP operates in seven of ten female-population prisons in Texas, with a goal of expanding services to all by the end of 2016. The need for our services is significant; Bureau of Justice statistics shows that Texas houses the largest number of female prisoners in the country – 11,408 women served a 1+ year sentence during 2004 and, numbers are growing annually. Each prisoner has, on average, 2.25 children – children who would benefit greatly from our program that sustains the mother-child bond during what can be a very emotional and fragile time of separation. In Texas, there is no other program similar to our Austin-based non-profit that offers these targeted services to women and children through age 13. In 2013, WSP recorded and mailed 2578 books/recordings with 1291 incarcerated mother being served. In 2013, we also received donations of 2,206 books and logged 3,137 volunteer hours No matter the offense, mothers are instinctively caregivers and need emotional connections with their children even if those physical connections are obstructed by prison walls. Many of these moms may not have had positive parenting role models and by embracing these stories, they learn how to be more caring and connected parents. While we hope to bolster the confidence of the mothers and motivate them to stay out of trouble upon release, we are equally (if not more so) concerned with the children. It is our hope and expectation that: • Children find reassurance that their mothers love them. • Children hear their mothers’ voices, an important connection since birth. • Children are encouraged to read along with recordings to reinforce literacy and put a positive spin on the importance of reading (an often neglected skill in this population). • Quality literature and storybooks that are age, interest and gender specific are available for mothers to “gift” to their children. • Mothers model an interest in literacy for their children and demonstrate positive parenting. • The “new” parental support will increase the interest level and reading skills in children and put them on a path for educational success.