Pepsi Refresh: Vote for Innovative Local Justice Projects

Cause marketing is everywhere these days, and criminal justice reformers have been a bit slow to engage with socially conscious corporations. It’s time to change that.

One way to start is by voting for a few promising initiatives currently competing for votes in Pepsi’s Refresh Project. The company is giving $1.3 million each month to help individuals and organizations launch projects aimed at transforming communities. The winners are chosen by popular vote, and there are a few great criminal justice proposals worth a look.

One group worthy of a vote is Cultivating Dreams, a prison garden partnership between students at Claremont College and prisoners at the California Institute for Women.  The students and prisoners tend a thriving organic garden inside prison walls and supply fresh organic produce for the prison. In the process, the two groups can learn advanced garderning and farming techniques while also having an opportunity to get to know each other, crossing cultural boundaries and building relationships that could change lives on both sides of the fence.

Cultivating Dreams is seeking $25,000 from Pepsi to expand the size of the garden, buy tools and supplies, build a community center and offer trainings for students and prisoners. Vote for Cultivating Dreams here -- you can vote once per day throughout November.

Another worthy Pepsi Refresh proposal is a prison dog training idea from Michelle Riccio of Connecticut. Michelle proposes pairing six Connecticut prisoners with dogs rescued from a kill shelter. The prisoners work with a professional dog trainer to rehabilitate or train the dogs and then put them up for adoption. Like successful prison puppies programs across the country, this would teach prisoners an important skill while saving dogs’ lives and sending shelter dogs to loving homes.

A few others while you're in the voting mood:

-- Improve the computer systems at a drug & alcohol treatment facility in Delaware

-- Give high school scholarships to 80 at-risk students

-- Launch a website and mobile phone app to connect victims of domestic abuse with services and support

-- Search the thousands of proposed projects here

It seems corporate foundations and cause marketers are reluctant to tie their brands to jumpsuit-clad criminals and marginalized parolees, and this is a mistake. Training and services for prisoners and the formerly incarcerated are our path to stronger communities. The public has a nuanced view of the problem and we’re ready to support a company that gives our neighbors a second chance.

And while marketers might keep prisoners at arm’s length, crowd-sourced philanthropy opportunities like the Pepsi Refresh Project could become an important avenue for bringing attention to underrepresented communities and funding critical prison and post-prison projects. Vote early and vote often.

[Full Disclosure: I learned about Cultivating Dreams project from my cousin, a student at Scripps College who works with the group]

Image Credit: Cultivating Dreams