Hiding in Plain Sight: The Neighbors You Never Hear From: Recent Episodes
Tia Ryans
"Hiding In Plain Sight: The Neighbors You Never Hear From" is an audio series that will take you on the reentry journey through the first-hand experiences of 6 people and where they are today. The series is hosted by Tia Ryans, Founding Executive Director of NJ F.O.R.T.E House. NJ F.O.R.T.E House provides access to a healthy and transparent living environment and assists with academic readiness for formerly incarcerated students transitioning through post-secondary education. The organization takes meaningful steps to promote inclusiveness, autonomy, accountability, and economic self-sufficiency for our participants. Devising and implementing a supportive housing strategy upon reentry and maintaining strategic partnerships with community institutions to maintain retention and minimize felon disenfranchisement. Support the work of NJ F.O.R.T.E House by visiting www.njfortehouse.org.
The series is part of the Newark News & Story Collaborative made possible with funding support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the Victoria Foundation. The Newark News and Story Collaborative trains community members in storytelling, media-making, and other creative art forms to share and amplify their experiences. It’s laying the groundwork for a collaborative network that will address longstanding information inequities in Newark, New Jersey. For more information and stories, visit newarkstories.com.
In this bonus episode of Hiding in Plain Sight: The Neighbors You Never Hear From, Host Tia Ryans speaks with Kimberley about the anxiety of parole, the challenges of reentry, and the road back to self after incarceration. [This episode contains explicit language.]
Kimberley is a loving mother of two. Her passions surround helping those in need and she uses that desire to thrive in the hospitality field. She plans to pursue her post-secondary education in the medical field.
To support the continued work of NJ F.O.R.T.E House and learn more about the organization, visit: njfortehouse.org Get involved: All of us or None-Northern NJ
Hiding In Plain Sight: The Neighbors You Never Hear From is produced by Tia Ryans, Brit Harley, and Dionysus Augus.
Theme music provided by Vacation Collective, Bright Ideas Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!) || https://uppbeat.io/t/fe77a/vacation-collective || License code: 4HIKHJVTF3RTDLGW
This series is part of the Newark News, and Story Collaborative made possible with funding support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the Victoria Foundation. The Newark News and Story Collaborative is committed to elevating community-driven storytelling to fill information gaps in local and national media. The Collaborative trains community members in storytelling, media-making, and other creative art forms to share and amplify their experiences. It’s laying the groundwork for a collaborative network that will address longstanding information inequities in Newark, New Jersey. For more information and to hear local stories, visit newarkstories.com.
We previously heard from Nelson, but in episode 7 of Hiding in Plain Sight: The Neighbors You Never Hear From, we hear a more in-depth interview when he spoke with Host Tia Ryans. Nelson served a 17-year prison sentence. We hear about Nelson’s journey of what he described as “becoming a man.” From childhood sexual abuse, gang involvement, and his love for God, Nelson reveals how he weaved through all of that as an impressionable man. Nelson Gonzalez is currently proud to be on the front lines as an Aveanna Essex County COVID-19 vaccination site supervisor. Nelson is a Certified Automotive Technician through New Community Career and Technical Institute and is looking to acquire his Bachelor’s in Psychology.
After serving 17 years in prison and being released less than a year ago, he is anxious to give back to his community. Nelson uses his experiences as a storytelling tool to help others with similar experiences. He has already been featured in articles such as Nelson’s Journeyby Swoppt and FORTE House Resident Nelson Fights COVID--and Bias--from “The Front Lines” by From FORTE House to YOUR House.
Nelson's Recommended Book List
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz
The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael Alan Singer
Soul Care: 7 Transformational Principles for a Healthy Soul by Dr. Rob Reimer To support the continued work of NJ F.O.R.T.E House and learn more about the organization, visit: njfortehouse.org Get involved: All of us or None-Northern NJ
Hiding In Plain Sight: The Neighbors You Never Hear From is produced by Tia Ryans, Brit Harley, and Dionysus Augus.
Theme music provided by Vacation Collective, Bright Ideas Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!) || https://uppbeat.io/t/fe77a/vacation-collective || License code: 4HIKHJVTF3RTDLGW
This series is part of the Newark News, and Story Collaborative made possible with funding support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the Victoria Foundation. The Newark News and Story Collaborative is committed to elevating community-driven storytelling to fill information gaps in local and national media. The Collaborative trains community members in storytelling, media-making, and other creative art forms to share and amplify their experiences. It’s laying the groundwork for a collaborative network that will address longstanding information inequities in Newark, New Jersey. For more information and to hear local stories, visit newarkstories.com.
In episode 6 of Hiding in Plain Sight: The Neighbors You Never Hear From, Host Tia Ryans speaks with Parish King, who spoke about his personal reentry troubles and physical health struggles that began with the lack of a proper diet during his confinement and medical care.
Parish King was born in Brooklyn, NY, raised in Far Rockaway Queens, and currently lives in Newark, NJ. After graduating High school, Parish attended Baruch College CUNY and worked in local church ministry, where I taught Sunday school. He received his Associate's degree in Liberal Arts and is currently attending Rutgers University-Newark, where he will be a 2021 graduate with a degree in Psychology. Parish is also a member of the Rutgers-Newark Honors Living and Learning Community. Parish plans to attend graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. in Psychology.
Parish is also a proud student of the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons (NJ-STEP) initiative, an association of higher education institutions in New Jersey that provide college courses inside correctional facilities.
Parish's Book RecommendationsThe Water Dancer by Ta Nehisi Coates
Love by Tony Morrison
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois To support the continued work of NJ F.O.R.T.E House and learn more about the organization, visit: njfortehouse.org Get involved: All of us or None-Northern NJ
Hiding In Plain Sight: The Neighbors You Never Hear From is produced by Tia Ryans, Brit Harley, and Dionysus Augus.
Theme music provided by Vacation Collective, Bright Ideas Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!) || https://uppbeat.io/t/fe77a/vacation-collective || License code: 4HIKHJVTF3RTDLGW
This series is part of the Newark News, and Story Collaborative made possible with funding support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the Victoria Foundation. The Newark News and Story Collaborative is committed to elevating community-driven storytelling to fill information gaps in local and national media. The Collaborative trains community members in storytelling, media-making, and other creative art forms to share and amplify their experiences. It’s laying the groundwork for a collaborative network that will address longstanding information inequities in Newark, New Jersey. For more information and to hear local stories, visit newarkstories.com.
In episode 5 of Hiding in Plain Sight: The Neighbors You Never Hear From, Host Tia Ryans speaks with Summer Sprofera, who disclosed just how difficult her reentry journey was and still is because of the trauma of incarceration.
Summer was incarcerated for approximately 9 years at Edna Mahan Correctional facility. She has learned how to grow through a terrible situation and be empathetic to those still struggling. Summer Sprofera is a graduate of Rutgers University where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Planning and Design. Summer is the recipient of the American Society of Landscape Architects’ Merit Award for a memorial she co-designed for Martin Luther King. She was also awarded a grant through Princeton University’s Molecular Biophysics Program to conduct a plant comparison at Liberty State Park. Summer currently works at Branch Brook Park in Newark, NJ as the Director of Landscape Management.
Summer's Book Recommendations The Body Keeps the Score, By Bessel van der KolkAnxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World, by Max Lucado, Lucian SamosataForest Bathing Retreat: Finding Wholeness in the Company of Trees, by Hannah FriesThe Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom. Perseverance, and the Art of Loving, by Ryan Holiday, Stephen Hanselman
To support the continued work of NJ F.O.R.T.E House and learn more about the organization, visit: njfortehouse.org
Get involved: All of us or None-Northern NJ
Hiding In Plain Sight: The Neighbors You Never Hear From is produced by Tia Ryans, Brit Harley, and Dionysus Augus.
Theme music provided by Vacation Collective, Bright Ideas Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!) || https://uppbeat.io/t/fe77a/vacation-collective || License code: 4HIKHJVTF3RTDLGW
This series is part of the Newark News, and Story Collaborative made possible with funding support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the Victoria Foundation. The Newark News and Story Collaborative is committed to elevating community-driven storytelling to fill information gaps in local and national media. The Collaborative trains community members in storytelling, media-making, and other creative art forms to share and amplify their experiences. It’s laying the groundwork for a collaborative network that will address longstanding information inequities in Newark, New Jersey. For more information and to hear local stories, visit newarkstories.com.
In episode 4 of Hiding in Plain Sight: The Neighbors You Never Hear From, Host Tia Ryans speaks with Jason Conway, who explains with a proud veteran who gave a vivid description of the parallels between his time serving in the military and his sentence in New Jersey’s state prison.
Jason D. Conway is currently enrolled in the M.P.A. program at Rutgers University-Newark School of Policy and Public Administration. He received his Associate's of Arts for Mercer County College and Bachelors from Rutgers- Newark. Jason is a proud student of New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons (NJ-STEP) initiative; an association of higher education institutions in New Jersey that provide college courses inside correctional facilities.
Jason supports his community by actively participating in several social justice and criminal justice reform organizations and spaces such as the Brick City Alliance, All of Us or None-Northern NJ, Newark City Street Team, and Transformative Justice Initiative.
When asked about navigating his reentry experience Jason states that he is simply “trying to navigate the spaces provided to me with an open mind and positive thought.”
Jason's Recommended Book ListThe New Jim Crow, By Michelle Alexander
The Body Keeps the Score, By Bessel van der Kolk
The Power Broker, By Robert Caro
To support the continued work of NJ F.O.R.T.E House and learn more about the organization, visit: njfortehouse.org
Get involved: All of us or None-Northern NJ
Hiding In Plain Sight: The Neighbors You Never Hear From is produced by Tia Ryans, Brit Harley, and Dionysus Augus.
Theme music provided by Vacation Collective, Bright Ideas Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!) || https://uppbeat.io/t/fe77a/vacation-collective || License code: 4HIKHJVTF3RTDLGW
This series is part of the Newark News, and Story Collaborative made possible with funding support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the Victoria Foundation. The Newark News and Story Collaborative is committed to elevating community-driven storytelling to fill information gaps in local and national media. The Collaborative trains community members in storytelling, media-making, and other creative art forms to share and amplify their experiences. It’s laying the groundwork for a collaborative network that will address longstanding information inequities in Newark, New Jersey. For more information and to hear local stories, visit newarkstories.com.
In episode 3 of Hiding in Plain Sight: the Neighbors You Never Hear From, Host Tia Ryans speaks with Hanif Parker, who explains the effects of an addiction that lead to his incarceration and the social ills in urban spaces that challenged his identity.
Hanif Parker is certified as a drug and alcohol counselor and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Justice Studies from Rutgers University- Newark. He minored in Philosophy and Mathematics. Hanif Parker is passionate about justice. Thus, he worked as a proxy for Rutgers’ Law School and The New Jersey Institute of Social Justice to restore voting rights to people on probation and parole. His work in reentry includes spearheading a correlational study that highlights the adverse effects of parole-mandated reentry groups; that work is being used to pass legislation today. Additionally, Hanif worked in conjunction with the Union County Prosecutor’s office on parole reform. Today, Hanif is a community organizer with the largest community-organizing group in the United States: The Industrial Area Foundation and the online senior Tutor Coordinator at Swarthmore College.
Hanif's Book Recommendations:
[Books that help one map a pro-social identity]
Emotional Intelligence by Daniel GoldmanSocial Intelligence by Daniel Goldman
A Rational Guide to Emotive Behavior by Albert Ellis and Ron Harper
The Art Of Living Consciously by Nathaniel Brandon
Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.
To support the continued work of NJ F.O.R.T.E House and learn more about the organization, visit: njfortehouse.org
Get involved: All of us or None-Northern NJ
Hiding In Plain Sight: The Neighbors You Never Hear From is produced by Tia Ryans, Brit Harley, and Dionysus Augus.
Theme music provided by Vacation Collective, Bright Ideas Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!) || https://uppbeat.io/t/fe77a/vacation-collective || License code: 4HIKHJVTF3RTDLGW
This series is part of the Newark News, and Story Collaborative made possible with funding support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the Victoria Foundation. The Newark News and Story Collaborative is committed to elevating community-driven storytelling to fill information gaps in local and national media. The Collaborative trains community members in storytelling, media-making, and other creative art forms to share and amplify their experiences. It’s laying the groundwork for a collaborative network that will address longstanding information inequities in Newark, New Jersey. For more information and to hear local stories, visit newarkstories.com.
In this episode, Host Tia Ryans speaks with Cassandra Severe, who is a mother that takes us on an emotional journey of surviving sexual abuse as a child, how her acts of rebellion led to her eventual incarceration, and the moment she had to explain to her son that her stay at “college” was actually time spent in jail.
Cassandra Severe is a mother, student, survivor, activist, and change agent living and working in Newark, New Jersey. She currently works with the Newark Housing Authority to support the Asset Manager and the Department of Operations. She holds an Associates degree in Human and Social Services from Essex County College and a Bachelors in social work from Rutgers University- Newark. Cassandra is currently a speaker of the Faces of Women Imprisoned Speakers Bureau with the Ladies of Hope Ministries to deepen and broaden public conversation through public symposiums and 2016-2017 Beyond the Bars Fellow of Columbia University Center for Justice.
Cassandra previously worked as the Project Manager of the Newark Community Street Team (NCST). NCST is a community-based violence reduction strategy that trains and deploys Outreach Workers and High-Risk Interventionists in the South and West Wards of Newark. Cassandra also worked as a Facility Coordinator and Case Manager at Integrity House, a multi-service agency that offers a full continuum of care for individuals with substance use disorders. Cassandra knows firsthand the difficulty and challenges people face after traumatic life experiences; thus she has made it her mission and passion to incorporate healing in her social work practices.
Cass' Recommended Book List Praying for you Spirit-led prayers, by Pastor Mary Cooper * Peace in the Hood- ending the violence, by Aquil Basher * The New Jim Crow, By Michelle Alexander * Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, And Redemption In American Prison, by Shaka Senghor * Built to Outlast The Storm: The 12 Points of Turning a Setback into a Major Comeback,* by Jamila T. Davis
To support the continued work of NJ F.O.R.T.E House and learn more about the organization, visit: njfortehouse.org
Get involved: All of us or None-Northern NJ
Hiding In Plain Sight: The Neighbors You Never Hear From is produced by Tia Ryans, Brit Harley, and Dionysus Augus.
Theme music provided by Vacation Collective, Bright Ideas Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!) || https://uppbeat.io/t/fe77a/vacation-collective || License code: 4HIKHJVTF3RTDLGW
This series is part of the Newark News, and Story Collaborative made possible with funding support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the Victoria Foundation. The Newark News and Story Collaborative is committed to elevating community-driven storytelling to fill information gaps in local and national media. The Collaborative trains community members in storytelling, media-making, and other creative art forms to share and amplify their experiences. It’s laying the groundwork for a collaborative network that will address longstanding information inequities in Newark, New Jersey. For more information and to hear local stories, visit newarkstories.com.
In 2021 it’s difficult for the average person to imagine that someone born and raised in the United States does not know how to use technology or navigate public transportation, or could be overcome with anxiety at the thought of crossing the street. Now imagine being in a position where it’s frowned upon to ask for help in those situations or even ask questions because you’re expected to just KNOW. I was that person 6 years ago. For over a decade I lived in what I call a time capsule. I was eventually released from one of NJ’s state prisons but to an area, where I had never lived, at an age that people expected me to act in a manner that was foreign to me, and without the support needed for my survival. I couldn’t get a job because I never had a resume, I couldn’t get an apartment because I had no rental, employment, or credit history, I couldn’t do the many things that would prevent me from going back to the system designed for me to fail. I’m not the only neighbor you pass that has a similar reentry experience. Hiding In Plain Sight: The Neighbors You Never Hear From is an audioseriesthatwill take you on the journey of reentry through the first-hand experiences of 6 people and where they are today.
Tia Ryans is an advocate against the detrimental culminations of the criminal legal system. Her areas of passion and study surround the intersectionality between environmental, social, and criminal injustices that impact disenfranchised communities. As the Founding Executive Director of Forcing Out Recidivism Through Education (F.O.R.T.E. House), she provides a healthy and stable living environment for formerly incarcerated students transitioning from incarceration through post-secondary education.
Tia is also the Founding Chapter Leader of All of Us or None - Northern NJ, where she leads grassroots advocacy initiatives to support families directly impacted by the criminal legal system. As a first-generation college graduate, she holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Rutgers University- Newark. Her experiences include her work with Congressman Donald M. Payne, Jr. (NJ-10) to strengthen and maintain constituent relationships, collaborations with ETS for best practices surrounding justice impacted college students in the educational ecosystem, and presentations in spaces such as The AAUW about the advancements to advocacy and education for women and girls. Tia is also a speaker of the Faces of Women Imprisoned Speakers Bureau to deepen and broaden public conversation through public symposiums.
To support the continued work of NJ F.O.R.T.E House and learn more about the organization, visit: njfortehouse.org
Get involved: All of us or None-Northern NJTia's Book Recommendations
- Fourth City: Essays from Prison in America, Edited by Doran Larson (2014)
- Just Mercy, By Bryan Stevenson (2014)
- Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration, By Emily Bazelon (2019)
- From Prison to Ph.D.: A Memoir of Hope, Resilience, and Second Chances, By Jason Sole
- Caught: The Prison State and the Lockdown of American Politics, By Marie Gottschalk (2014)
- A Colony in a Nation, By Chris Hayes (2017)
- Insane: America’s Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness, By Alisa Roth (2018)
- American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey Into the Business of Punishment, By Shane Bauer (2018)
- Among the Lowest of the Dead, By David Von Drehle (1995)
- Anatomy of Injustice, By Raymond Bonner (2012)
- Autobiography of an Execution, By David Dow (2010)
- Burning Down The House: The End of Juvenile Prison, By Nell Bernstein (2014)
- Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong, By Brandon Garrett (2011)
- Inside Private Prisons: An American Dilemma in the Age of Mass Incarceration, By Lauren-Brooke Eisen (2017)
- A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America
- By T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong (2018)
- Prison Rape: An American Institution?, by Michael Singer (Author)
- Inside This Place, Not of It: Narratives from Women's Prisons
- by Robin Levi (Editor), Ayelet Waldman (Goodreads Author) (Editor)
- Dark Alliance by Gary Webb (1998)
- S Street Rising by Ruben Castaneda (2014)
This series is part of the Newark News, and Story Collaborative made possible with funding support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the Victoria Foundation. The Newark News and Story Collaborative is committed to elevating community-driven storytelling to fill information gaps in local and national media. The Collaborative trains community members in storytelling, media-making, and other creative art forms to share and amplify their experiences. It’s laying the groundwork for a collaborative network that will address longstanding information inequities in Newark, New Jersey. For more information and hear local stories, you can go to newarkstories.com.