Lunch and Learn Fundraiser Celebrates Madison’s New SAFE House
By Katie Mulligan
On May 15, MOSES members and others gathered for a “Lunch and Learn” fundraiser at Lake Edge Lutheran Church in Monona. We were there to hear EXPO member Deliliah McKinney speak about the special problems of women who spend time in prison, what they need to succeed after release, and how she obtained a grant for a SAFE House that helps them move toward new lives.
“I am in awe of her,” said MOSES organizer James Morgan when he introduced McKinney. The two had met at JustDane, where they were peer specialists, and clearly had a special bond. In fact, it was obvious from the event’s opening that lived experience and peer support are crucial elements in efforts to help women who are rebuilding their lives after incarceration.
McKinney began with a daunting list of what she and other women have faced upon discharge. “We are released to a motel and given a week to find a place – usually a shelter. We must have a job to pay rent but might not have anywhere to take a shower and keep our clothes. And we might be revoked if we can’t provide an address to our parole officer.”
Many women also suffer from the emotional trauma of separation from their children and the prospect of a long struggle for permanent reunification. In fact, the ACLU recently sued the Department of Corrections because it had failed to set up a program that would enable some women to keep physical custody of their children while in prison.
These problems are not unique to Wisconsin, and they are increasing throughout the country. The rate of growth for female imprisonment has been twice as high as that for men since 1980. In 2022, over 50% of the women in prison were mothers of children under 18, as were 80% of the women in jails.
McKinney moved on to become a certified peer support specialist and looked for ways she could help other women who had been through similar struggles. She found inspiration in the work of Susan Burton, who had cycled in and out of prison for more than 15 years before she found help at a drug rehabilitation facility.
Burton developed a reentry program called A New Way of Life that included housing and access to various supportive services. But it also featured other kinds of help she knew women needed. Stability and a sense of security are key to their healing. as is assistance with their efforts to reunite with their children. Burton’s model program has evolved to a SAFE Housing Network that now consists of 31 organizations in 18 states, including Wisconsin.
McKinney attended a three-day training in Chicago, where she learned how to establish a SAFE House and implement the model. She then succeeded, in a highly competitive process, to obtain a grant that helped secure a mortgage for a SAFE House In Dane County
That SAFE House opened last fall and has four residents. Each of them was urged to take 30 days after release to “do nothing,” an acknowledgment of the difficulty of adjusting to post-prison life. They also are allowed to stay in the SAFE House as long as they need. A video showed comfortable overstuffed furniture, flowers on a mantle, and colorful bedspreads. “I knew what I would want to see when I come home,” said McKinney.
The luncheon offered an inspiring story about a successful effort to help women after prison. For me, however, its greatest gift was a better understanding of the value of lived experience and peer support. McKinney repeatedly told the audience how important it was to her to be surrounded by people like her “who were doing the work,” and to be the person who could provide hope to others like herself. The SAFE House model works because it reflects the hard-won knowledge of women who know what it takes to survive reentry from prison and build a better life.