Babz Rawls Ivy with Prosperity Foundation Executive Director Orsella Hughes at Monday’s porch launch.
Babz Rawls Ivy kicked off Black Philanthropy Month with the launch of a fund to aid Black women exiting prison and reentering society, hoping to ease a path she herself has successfully navigated.
Rawls Ivy, who is the editor-in-chief of The Inner-City News and host of the daily WNNH FM radio show “LoveBabz LoveTalk,” held a debut event for The Freed Woman Fund (FWF) sponsored by the Prosperity Foundation Monday afternoon on the front porch of her home on Ivy Street in Newhallville.
Maya McFadden Photos
Rawls Ivy Monday on Ivy Street: Other women don’t have the support I had to reenter society.
Rawls Ivy began putting together the idea for the fund around March last year. Then, after interviewing Executive Director of The Prosperity Foundation Orsella Hughes this past April, Rawls Ivy decided the fund would be created through the Prosperity Foundation, which seeks to help create philanthropic funds to support the Black community.
In 2007 Rawls Ivy served 30 days in federal prison on an embezzlement charge. She managed to rebuild her life afterwards as a community leader; her many volunteer leadership roles include currently chairing the Arts Council of Greater New Haven’s board, co-chairing the Common Ground High School board, serving as secretary for Long Wharf Theater’s board, and board member of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England (Connecticut and Rhode Island).
“When I served time in federal prison, unlike a lot of women, I didn’t lose everything that I had,” Rawls Ivy said. “When I came home, I came back to an intact situation. I am not the norm.”
Rawls Ivy said its common for families to fall apart when women go to prison.
While serving time Rawls Ivy said she, unlike most incarcerated women, knew that her children were safe, her home was taken care of, and she had friends who took care of bills. This support continued when she was released, unlike for many other women released from prison.
While serving time, Rawls Ivy said, she “immediately realized once I was inside that this was not about me just going to prison. It was about me hearing and seeing these women who had way less than I had.”
She resolved to find a way to “support women who had way less than I did” and “put women in a better place than they were.” She had run support groups in the past. “I wanted to do something a little more direct and effective.”
Freed Woman Fund supporters at the launch.
Rawls Ivy, who is 58, timed Monday’s launch with the celebration of Black Philanthropy Month. She said she is seeking to “give back what was given to me.”
The fund’s launch also coincides with a growing civic focus in New Haven on helping ex-offenders reintegrate into society.
The fund will provide immediate access to money for Black women recently released from prison to get personal hygiene products, to take their kids out, or to pay for support program applications.
The FWF will aim to provide monetary support for women returning to the greater New Haven area to pay fees that “might be small to some people but for others they can be life changing,” Rawls Ivy said. “Most women when they come out don’t have any money. And they don’t know anyone who can get them money.” She said that with financial support from the FWF, Black women will no longer have to be faced with a loss of dignity by asking for money to get everyday essentials.
The goal is to fundraise $50,000 within the next year for the FWF. As of Monday $1,825 has been raised. (Donations can be made here.)
Rawls Ivy has assembled a team of advisers to help her choose recipients and distribute the money raised.
Hughes agreed to have the Prosperity Foundation sponsor the FWF to urge the Black community to help others realize that “philanthropy does exist in my neighborhood.”
Fund supporters catch up after the launch on Rawls Ivy’s porch, a popular “third place” in New Haven.
The Prosperity Foundation focuses on supporting Black grassroots efforts for the Black community, Hughes said.
FWF supporters like Emalie Mayo gathered for the launch Monday. Mayo made a donation to the fund after recently learning more about the issues Black women face when exiting prison. “We need to help each other,” she said.
Mayo said Rawls Ivy’s story inspired her to pay more attention to the “subset of women in my community that need help.”
“I can only imagine what it’s like to have people turn their back on you for making a mistake,” Mayo said. “Having no support snowballs into mental health, homelessness, and recidivism. This is how we can fix these things.”
Rawls Ivy said she still experiences firsthand the difficulties that come with being a Black woman who has served time. “The color of their skin makes it damn near impossible to step up out the shadow of being incarcerated,” Rawls Ivy said. “I still am in that shadow at times.”