Center for Community Alternatives

In New York State, criminal justice reform policies related to prison closure will only succeed if supported by the residents of the rural areas where most of the prisons are located.  It is therefore critical that progressive advocacy include efforts to promote the participation of these residents in the criminal justice reform movement. Broad support in rural prison towns, however, will be possible only with the creation of opportunities for economic development. 

Lauren Melodia will work with community members in rural "prison towns" to re-think their local economies. Melodia's project involves a collaborative effort to help these rural areas develop sustainable models for growth.

Melodia is an organizer based in New York City.  She has spent the past three years working at the Center for Constitutional Rights, most notably on the New York Campaign for Telephone Justice, which mobilized prison families to challenge the prison telephone industry.  She launched the Bed-Stuy Community Supported Agriculture project, a neighborhood consumers' cooperative that purchases fresh produce from farmers of color.  Melodia is also an organizing consultant to Farmers of the World, a grassroots group that provides resources to immigrants and migrant workers to help them establish their own agricultural businesses.  Previously, she organized public housing residents in New York City and worked in Amnesty International's Business and Human Rights program.

New York, NY