October Abolition Apostles Newsletter
Resources, updates, political education, and more!
Hello everyone! We are so excited and grateful for the growth of Abolition Apostles over the last several weeks. Whether you have been with us since we began two years ago or you only joined two hours ago, thank you for being an important part of our community. As a completely volunteer-run and donation-based ministry, our work is only possible because of our collective commitments and participation.
If you haven’t yet connected with a penpal who is incarcerated, please attend one of our orientation meetings, every Sunday at 3 pm CT (1 pm PST / 4 pm EST) via Zoom at this link. (If Sundays never work for you, email us and we can arrange for an alternative orientation.)
As we grow, we hope that you’ll join us at our newly organized regional chapter meetings. Regional chapters provide an opportunity to connect with others who are doing this work, and join local and regional abolitionist organizing.
You can check out the times of all of our upcoming regional chapter and working group meetings on our website, but here are the ones coming up in the next month:
Upcoming Meetings
Unless otherwise noted, you can use the regular Abolition Apostles Zoom link to attend.
Oct 7 at 7 pm CT (5 pm PST / 8 pm EST) - Technology Working Group
Oct 11 at 7pm CT (8 pm EST): Southeast Region (LA, AR, MS, AL, TN, GA, FL)
Oct 11 at 7 pm CT (5 pm PST / 8 pm EST): Hotline Backend Working Group (separate Zoom Link)
Oct 12 at 7 pm CT (5 pm PST / 8 pm EST): Colleges & Universities Working Group
Oct 14 at 6 pm EST: Mid-Atlantic Region (PA, MD, DE, DC, VA, WV, NC, SC)
Oct 18 at 7 pm CT (5 pm PST / 8 pm EST): Spanish Working Group
Oct 18 at 5 pm PST: California Regional Meeting
Oct 19 at 7 pm EST: Tri-State Region (NY, NJ, CT)
Oct 20 at 7 pm EST: Northeast Region (RI, MA, VT, NH, ME)
Oct 24 at 4:30 pm CT (5:30 pm EST): Midwest Region (WI, IA, MI, MO, KS, OH)
Oct 25 at 7 pm CT: Great Lakes Region (IL, IN, NE, MN, ND, SD)
Oct 25 at 7 pm EST: Kentucky Region
Oct 25 at 7:30 pm CT: Communications working group
Oct 28 at 7 pm CT (5 pm PST / 8 pm EST): Hotline working group (separate Zoom Link)
Oct 28 at 7 pm CT (6 pm MT): Texas & Rockies Region (TX, OK)
Abolition Apostles Political Education
Starting on Sunday, November 7, Abolition Apostles will host a weekly study group for Derecka Purnell’s forthcoming Becoming Abolitionists. Let’s read together and continue to build community around the theory and praxis of abolition! Sign up here if you want to join.
Resource of the Month
This month, we’re highlighting an incredible resource developed by our Legal Working Group on how to write an effective parole support letter for your penpals and/or for other loved ones on the inside. Your pen pal might mention that they have a parole hearing coming up. Having letters of support from people who know them - even if you only know them as a pen pal - can make a big difference in parole decisions. Learn everything you need to know about how to write an effective parole support letter here!
Support our work!
Abolition Apostles is an explicitly anti-capitalist ministry that is working to build an alternative to the nonprofit industrial complex, allowing our movement to be as radical as we actually are and freeing us from the strings that are often attached to funding from the government or corporate philanthropy.
In order to make our ministry sustainable and meet the needs of our pen pals who are incarcerated, Abolition Apostles relies on the generosity of individuals who support our work by making sustaining donations via Patreon or one-time donations via Venmo.
Become a Patreon Supporter or make a one-time donation to support our pen pals’ commissary requests via Venmo here! (To learn more about Abolition Apostles’ funding and finances, visit the financial transparency page of our website here!)
Want to stay in conversation? Join our Slack community here!
In solidarity,
Abolition Apostles Team