According to a report by the JAMA Network, 11 million children in America have either a parent, caregiver or someone in their household that has been impacted by incarceration.
Ebony Underwood, whose own father was in prison for 33 years, understood the emotional toll that such an experience has on a child, and was confounded by how little has been done to help them. “It’s not a criminal legal system issue. This is a child well-being issue,” said Underwood, City College alum and founder of WE GOT US NOW, the nation’s first-of-its-kind nonprofit innovation hub working to advance the well-being of children and young adults impacted by parental incarceration.
As a political science and pre-law student from 2008 to 2011, Underwood thought her future was predetermined, believing she would eventually become an entertainment lawyer. As a Skadden Arps Honors Program student, she was able to work with many practicing lawyers while a student. The rollout of new policies under the Obama administration addressing mass incarceration, including the Fair Sentencing Act, forced Underwood to question if she could do more to help her family. And it was at an event that Underwood spoke with a mentor who convinced her to take a leap of faith, postpone going to law school and instead advocate for her father.
As fate would have it Underwood attended an event hosted by The Justice Roundtable, a coalition working to reform federal criminal justice laws. While she was there she met an executive from Google who heard her story and wanted to do a project with her. Underwood went on to produce a digital campaign, “Love Letters,” which featured celebrities John Legend, Rosario Dawson and children sending messages to their incarcerated parents for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
After pleas for her father’s release were denied in 2016, Underwood recalled feeling dejected. “I broadcasted it to the world and my dad didn’t even come home after all of it,” she said. But upon realizing the amount of people with whom she was able to connect with and the historic lack of visibility for these children and families, Underwood said she had no choice but to continue her cause.
“This is my purposeful work.” Underwood said. “My mission is to ensure that this population of children have an ecosystem of support from cradle to career.”
Since the founding of the organization in 2018, WE GOT US NOW has contributed to outcomes reaching an estimated 500,000 children and families. The nonprofit also helped pass six pieces of legislation at the local, state and federal levels that help keep families connected. The organization is currently pushing for the codification of in-person visits in New York prisons. The bill would ensure that children would always be allowed to see their incarcerated parents, not just through video or phone calls.
In 2021, WE GOT US NOW helped pass the Proximity Bill in New York which demands that the state place incarcerated parents in a facility “which is located in closest proximity to the primary place of residence of such person’s minor child or children.” Underwood hopes to pass similar bills in all the other states.
In that same year and after 33 years of having been separated by incarceration, Underwood’s father received a compassionate release and was reunited with his family.
“We tried for years to bring my Dad home and got denied so many times,” she said. “But my family and I never gave up, and I’m still not giving up for future children and families.”
Yadira Gonzalez is a graduate of Baruch College where she studied journalism and minored in film. She was an editor-in-chief of Baruch’s award-winning magazine Dollars and Sense. Her writing has also been published in Documented, The New York Review of Books and AdAge.