Pictured above:  Wendi O'Neal, co-facilitator

BreakOUT! is excited to launch a pilot Healing Justice Program for the month of February, an intergenerational knitting circle with knitter/ facilitators Elizabeth Sames and Wendi O'Neal.  The knitting circle will focus on sharing stories with one another, building community- and maybe even selling our knitted goods!

Wendi O'Neal has been an integral part of BreakOUT!, often coming to our weekly member meetings and offering her facilitation and conflict management skills during times of need.  She is our "on-call" healer, mentor, teacher, freedom song-singer, and cultural and spiritual advisor.

"We Deserve Better" Video Shown as Part of NOPD Training Curriculum

As part of BreakOUT!'s work to build the power of LGBTQ youth and improve community relationships with the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD), we developed a powerful video called “We Deserve Better" that we delivered to the NOPD.  In the video, BreakOUT! members share their stories and experiences with the NOPD and give recommendations for reform.

This week the video was shown at the NOPD Training Academy to current in-service officers as part of their regular training curriculum.  The video will continue to be shown for the next 41 weeks of officer trainings.

This is the first time that LGBTQ youth who are directly impacted by the criminal justice system have had such a key role in training efforts with the New

A group of young people from BreakOUT! and ther friends remembered the lives of two of their peers who were recently murdered in New Orleans.  Brenting Dolliole, a trans-identified 22 year old, was found beaten to death on November 26, 2011.  Just a few weeks later on December 29, 2011, a 23 year-old transgender woman, Githe Goines, was found strangled to death, her body dumped in a scrap yard in eastern New Orleans.

Friday night, a small group of young people gathered to remember their friends.  Carrying white roses and candles, they walked down Tulane Ave. to the neutral ground by Tulane and Broad St.  Amid evening traffic, they formed a circle, read a poem, reflected on the lives of their friends, and grieved the violence in the city that makes them feel

BreakOUT! member and formerly-detained youth, B., delivered a box of LGBTQ books to the Youth Study Center, New Orleans’ juvenile detention center, on Friday.

The books, which came through generous donations from community members during a book drive held in September, were collected in appreciation for the facility’s adoption of a model LGBTQ policy.  Among other best practices for the treatment of transgender youth and a requirement for staff training, the policy requires that “Books about being LGBT and LGBT-inclusive magazines will be made available to youth.”

Donated books, which will be placed in the facility’s new library, included both young adult fiction and non-fiction and ranged from books about gay civil rights leader Bayard Rustin to coming-of-age novels.

Check out the timeline created by BreakOUT! for the Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition. Two years and 13 deaths later, New Orleans is still waiting for the DOJ to act. Stay tuned for more info on how conditions at OPP negatively impact LGBTQ youth, especially Black transgender women and people living with HIV, and upcoming events you can attend to show your support for a reformed OPP!