SWF Center Storytelling
SWF Center Projects
Evolutionary Blues… West Oakland’s Music Legacy Trailer (2017)
A Rising Tide (Trailer) (2023)
East Oakland Counter Narratives (2020)
Contract Work
East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative
Homeowner Displacement (2024)
Holding on to the Hidden Cost of Displacement (2024)
Small Structures, Big Dreams (2024)
Tenant Organizing in The Town (2024)
ADU Workshop (2024)
Title Clearing Project (2024)
Contract Work
Communities for a Better Environment
Toxic Tours (2022)
SWF Center Project with Formerly Incarcerated Storytellers
Perseverance (2014)
Sajad Shakoor, whose Pakistani family has lived in the U.S. since the 1930s, struggled to fit in as a young man, leading him to gang involvement. Under California’s three-strikes law, a conviction for “inciting a fist fight” resulted in 21 years of incarceration. While in prison, Sajad earned his GED, a BA, and began working on a Ph.D. Since his release, he has been sharing his story and continuing the inmate leadership he developed at San Quentin.
I’m Living My Life Regardless of Her! (2014)
Kimberly Gamboa needed her mother’s approval and it kept her self-esteem low. While she parents her children differently, trouble with her son leads to losing her kids and imprisonment. She fights to get her kids back, she works the program to improve herself and eventually the family is reunited, as they always should have been.
Bright Horizons (2014)
Lajont Hutchin is a spoken word artist in Vallejo. He is one of the four sons, who grew up in a tough environment. He says he is a product of the underworld and frequent encounters with the law is not unusual. A drug sales conviction that included crossing state lines landed him in prison on the East Coast for four years. Lajont now shares his story with others to help keep younger men from glorifying unlawfulness and making the mistakes he made.
Light at The End of the Tunnel (2014)
Sandra Buford is the mother of 3 adults. In 1992, she was 33 and convicted of “kidnap for the purpose of robbery.” Sandra was sentenced to Chowchilla Women’s Prison for seven to life. After 10 years, Sandra began turning her life around. She is back now, after 21 years and she’s committed to being successful. Sandra works two jobs and is looking forward to making a positive impact on the community and the people around her.
Sandra’s story is part of a project that supported formerly incarcerated people in telling their story, their way.
Back(pack) (2014)
Jerry Beat shares his journey through 25 convictions to finally being identified as someone in need of help with addiction. He began learning to love himself, goes to college and work with others who need help, too.
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Perseverance
Sajad Shakoor’s Pakistani family has lived in the US since the 1930’s. As a young man, he had issues fitting in with his peers. It led him to gangs. Under the 3 strikes sentencing a conviction for “inciting a fist fight” caused Sajad to spend 21 years in CA prisons. During that time, he completed his GED, earned his BA and is now working on a Ph.D. Sajad has been home for less than a year. He is committed to sharing his story and continues his inmate leadership developed in San Quentin.
Sajad’s story is part of a project that supported formerly incarcerated people in telling their story, their way. These projects were created with the help of Opal Palmer Adisa who led a writing workshop, Kathy Sloane who shared her photographic work and views on taking notice of the world we are submerged in, Center for Digital Storytelling’s staff and volunteers and the board of directors at Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice (SWFCenter). Funding was a combination of events the SWFCenter launched, crowd funding and a grant from California’s for Safety and Justice (proponents of proposition 47).There are 5 stories in the series, and creating them took 1 week from writing to finish. Thank you, to all who contributed.
Together the stories share the personal dilemmas that caused or are the result of incarceration. Either way, the stories make it clear California needs to rethink its incarceration legacy.
Sajad’s story is part of a project that supported formerly incarcerated people in telling their story, their way. These projects were created with the help of Opal Palmer Adisa who led a writing workshop, Kathy Sloane who shared her photographic work and views on taking notice of the world we are submerged in, Center for Digital Storytelling’s staff and volunteers and the board of directors at Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice (SWFCenter). Funding was a combination of events the SWFCenter launched, crowd funding and a grant from California’s for Safety and Justice (proponents of proposition 47).There are 5 stories in the series, and creating them took 1 week from writing to finish. Thank you, to all who contributed.
Together the stories share the personal dilemmas that caused or are the result of incarceration. Either way, the stories make it clear California needs to rethink its incarceration legacy.
For this project, SWFCenter explored California’s addiction to over-incarceration. After more than a year of networking and research, the storytelling project began with a five-day workshop that resulted in 5 stories by 5 formerly incarcerated men and women. The resulting 3-minute shorts become tangible demonstrations of why Californians must continue to reverse those policies that result in over incarceration.
Light at The End of the Tunnel
Sandra Buford is the mother of 3 adults. In 1992, she was 33 and convicted of “kidnap for the purpose of robbery.” Sandra was sentenced to Chowchilla Women’s Prison for seven to life. After 10 years, Sandra began turning her life around. She is back now, after 21 years and she’s committed to being successful. Sandra works two jobs and is looking forward to making a positive impact on the community and the people around her.
Sandra’s story is part of a project that supported formerly incarcerated people in telling their story, their way. These projects were created with the help of Opal Palmer Adisa who led a writing workshop, Kathy Sloane who shared her photographic work and views on taking notice of the world we are submerged in, Joe Lambert and crew at Center for Digital Storytelling’s staff and the board of directors of Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice (SWFCenter).There are 5 stories in the series and creating them took 1 week from writing to finish. Thank you, to all who contributed.
Together the stories share the personal dilemmas that caused or are the result of incarceration. Either way, the stories make it clear California needs to rethink its incarceration legacy.
Accomplishing the production of “I’ll Tell My Story” films was the result of a partnership with Joe Lambert, of what was called The Center for Digital Storytelling but is now known as The Story Center. The Story Center has been facilitating storytelling workshops for over 25 years.
I’m Living My Life Regardless of Her!
Kimberly Gamboa needed her mother’s approval and it kept her self-esteem low. While she parents her children differently, trouble with her son leads to losing her kids and imprisonment. She fights to get her kids back, she works the program to improve herself and eventually the family is reunited, as they always should have been.
SWFCenter launched fundraisers, held crowd funding campaigns, and eventually received funding from Californians for Safety and Justice, a project of the Tides Center and proponents of Proposition 47.”
Back(pack)
Jerry Beat shares his journey through 25 convictions to finally being identified as someone in need of help with addiction. He began learning to love himself, goes to college and work with others who need help, too.