Citizens Against Recidivism, Inc. Celebrates 7th Annual Awards to Recognize the Accomplishments of Formerly Incarcerated People

New York, New York – Citizens Against Recidivism will host its 7th Annual Citizens’ Awards Program at the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Center, 3940 Broadway (165th Street), in Manhattan on November 9th 2913.

The Citizens’ Awards are held to recognize the accomplishments of formerly incarcerated people and the contribution made to society since their release.  Those to be recognized are Anthony Papa,Tarell Rodgers, Flores A. Forbes, Dr. Kirk James & Robert Riggs, Mujahid Farid, Sharon Richardson & William Brown, Andrea James and Marlon Peterson.

New York’s political leaders supporting this event include New York State Senators Bill Perkins and Malcolm A. Smith, Congressmen Gregory Meeks, NYC Council members Robert Jackson and Inez Dickens, and many more.

Citizens Against Recidivism asserts that neither imprisonment or the life after should mean the loss of all the rights and attributes of citizenship.

When: Saturday, November 9, 2013 @ 5:30 p.m.

Where:  Malcom X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Center
3940 Broadway ( 164th Bway) New York, NY 10032
Tickets are $55.00 in advance $60.00 at door

Who:

Anthony Papa is an artist, author and activist who was sentenced to 15 years to Life under NYS Rockefeller Drug Laws and was granted clemency after 12 years by Gov. George Pataki. Upon release Papa co-founded the “Mothers of the NY Disappeared” an influential group that led the charge to reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws.   He now works as manager of media relations for the Drug Policy Alliance, the nation’s leading organization working to end the war on drugs.

Flores A. Forbes is a writer, urban planner and economic development expert and is currently an associate vice president in the Office of Government and Community Affairs, Columbia University in the City of New York.

Kirk James received his doctoral degree in Clinical Social Work in 2013 at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice and a leader in utilizing his scholastic work to benefit those who are in prison or returning from incarceration.

Mujahid Farid is the recipient of a SOROS Justice Fellowship for organizing and leading the RAPP Campaign (Release Aging People in Prison).

Robert Riggs is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at New York University, has previously served as Research and Reentry Associate at the Bard Prison Initiative and as Research Assistant for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National HIV Behavioral Surveillance Project and has just finished working as Project Director at John Jay College’s Prisoner Reentry Institute on a project titled Three-Quarter Houses in New York City: The View from Inside.