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UPCOMING MEETINGS!!!
Don't miss the opportunity to join FFLIC and participate in our monthly chapter meetings:
Shreveport: 2nd Sunday of Every Month
New Orleans: 3rd Thursday of Every Month
Lake Charles: 4th Tuesday of Every Month
Lafayette: 4th Wednesday of Every Month
Place: TBA for information call FFLIC 504.708.8376 or toll free: 855.50.FFLIC
BECOME A LEADER WITH THE LEADERS WHO ARE PUSHING FOR JUVENILE JUSTICE AND EDUCATION REFORM FOR FAMILIES.
LEADER TRAINING MONTHLY: 4th Thursday of Every Month
For information on how to join in...
call 504.708.8376 or
toll free: 855.50.FFLIC
Visit www.FFLIC.org
or @fflicla
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Dear Friends,
As you may already know our Statewide Juvenile Justice Reform Policy Director, Mr. Ernest Johnson, has left the employ of FFLIC. Mr. Johnson has had many impactful successes at FFLIC over the past 6 years. FFLIC is grateful for all that he has contributed and we would like to take a moment to wish Mr. Johnson well on his new endeavors.
New Faces at FFLIC
FFLIC’s primary mission is to serve those in our community who are negatively impacted by the prison industrial complex and school to prison pipeline. All of FFLIC’s staff (old and new) are directly impacted by these broken systems. FFLIC believes those who are directly impacted by those broken systems are the key to successful reform as we know our needs better than anyone. To that end, we would like to take a moment to introduce you to new additions to FFLIC staff.
 Chandra Grayson is the full-time Statewide Community Organizer for FFLIC. Chandra was FFLIC’s part-time office manager from 2007 – 2012. She left FFLIC in 2012 and became a Youth Advocate for the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana (JJPL) and retained her position as Youth Advocate when JJPL folded into the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights. During her time as a Youth Advocate, Chandra monitored conditions of confinement for youth in local and statewide secure care and non-secure care facilities advocating zealously for youth. As FFLIC’s Statewide Community Organizer, Chandra is responsible for coordinating regular outreach and recruitment of new FFLIC members across the state of Louisiana with our outreach team, providing advocacy support to parents and families struggling with a child in the juvenile justice and school systems, and for coordinating local and statewide campaigns that empower members to transform the juvenile justice system.
 Melaney Batiste is the part-time Development and Communications Coordinator for FFLIC. Melaney has a B. S. in Speech Pathology and a Masters in Guidance and Counseling from Xavier University and is a 25-year veteran of the New Orleans school system. For over 38 years, Melaney has been entrenched in the New Orleans community working with community leaders on various educational issues. She has also worked with parents and children assisting them in overcoming speech, hearing, and language deficits. For the past 3 years, Melaney has been focused on advocating for runaway, abused, and impoverished youth and their families who are negatively impacted by the education system. As FFLIC’s Development and Communications Coordinator, Melaney is responsible for increasing our individual donor base adding to the financial sustainability of the organization.
We would also like to take this opportunity to introduce everyone to our new Outreach and Community Building team.
 Sonia Coleman is the part-time Community Organizer for FFLIC’s Shreveport chapter. Sonia became a member of FFLIC in 2010 when her son became entrapped in the juvenile justice maze. FFLIC provided guidance and training to Sonia increasing her knowledge on her and her child’s rights and what was happening to other children entrapped in the prison pipeline in Shreveport and around Louisiana. Despite the setbacks she was experiencing with her own child’s case, she dedicated herself to trying to help other children and other parents by working within the Shreveport FFLIC chapter. In 2013 Sonia graduated from FFLIC’s leadership trajectory training and has been actively re-building FFLIC’s chapter in Shreveport continuing to build membership, and providing advocacy for families in need.
 St. Patrick Williams is the part-time Community Organizer for FFLIC’s Lake Charles chapter. As a native of Lake Charles, St. Patrick knows personally the hardships youth can face when proper programs are not in place to support youth who are experiencing life challenges. As a formerly incarcerated youth, he is dedicated to reaching out to youth and their families to help provide the advocacy they need to keep their children from experiencing the school to prison pipeline. St. Patrick will be performing outreach to build upon and renew memberships in the Lake Charles area and he will be shadowing our Statewide Community Organizer on our leadership trajectory training and is on track to graduate in December 2016.
 Donnelle Cormier is the part-time Community Organizer for FFLIC’s Lafayette chapter. As a mother of two young sons, one of which was diagnosed with Asperger’s, Donnelle knows all too well the importance of advocating for our children giving voices to those who can’t speak for themselves. As a volunteer for the United Way of Acadiana, Donnelle knows first-hand what it means to not only be a part of the community but to be in the community giving support to those who need it most -- our children. Donnelle will be performing outreach to build upon and renew memberships in the Lafayette area and she will be shadowing our Statewide Community Organizer on our leadership trajectory training and is on track to graduate in December 2016.
 Maria Victoire is the part-time Community Liaison for FFLIC in New Orleans. Maria is a long-time FFLIC member, holds a degree in intermediate bookkeeping from the London Chamber of Commerce UK and she also studied Management for Rural Development for Small Scale Enterprises at the Pan African Institute for Development in Eastern and Southern Africa, Zambia. She worked for the Institute for Development and Progress (IDP) on Mauritius Island, located on the eastern and southern coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. Maria spent seven years as a change agent managing small scale enterprises for sustainable development. Maria is a full-time volunteer for the All Together in Dignity Fourth World Movement in New Orleans and she was instrumental in finding families who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina working to rebuild their communities and bring them home. As FFLIC’s Community Liaison, Maria is responsible for performing outreach in the community, collecting data and personal stories from families through our “People’s Data Campaign” surveys about the effects of punitive school discipline policies on our children. The campaign seeks to readily identify schools that are rapidly funneling our children into the prison pipeline so we will have the data to support the need for schools to implement solutions to suspensions like Positive Behavioral Intervention Supports (PBIS) statewide.
 Antonio Travis is the part-time Youth Leader for FFLIC in New Orleans. Antonio is a former student of Miller McCoy high school and came to FFLIC when he was experiencing problems at his school. Since becoming a member of FFLIC, Antonio has been participating in leadership development and performing outreach to increaae our youth membership. He recently facilitated our youth day of action where local youth developed a platform for education in which 2015 Board of Elementary and Secondary Education candidates signed onto. He was also instrumental in voter engagement of youth during the 2015 local and gubernatorial elections.
FFLIC Documentary
We are proud to introduce our newly released documentary about FFLIC and our fearless Executive Director Gina B. Womack produced by InfiniteFire.org.
“Gina Womack is a powerful voice for children's rights, educational reform, and juvenile justice. Learn more about her work, her vision, and her innovative organization, FFLIC, in this original new documentary by Infinite Fire."
Please click the below link to view the video:
http://www.infinitefire.org/bio/luminary/gina-womack/
Stay tuned for more exciting news from FFLIC in 2016!
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