Empowerment Avenue Society

Year Founded: 2020

Through an inside-outside partnership model, Empowerment Avenue Society connects incarcerated creators with industry professionals while providing editorial, creative, and logistical support to navigate digital barriers and industry norms. They also build capacity for publications, galleries, and museums to meaningfully center incarcerated people in creative spaces. Beyond access, their work challenges dehumanizing carceral narratives and reimagines creative power, centering system-impacted voices as a transformative act of equity and truth.

Empowerment Avenue was founded by  Rahsaan “New York” Thomas and freelance writer Emily Nonko in 2020,  while Rahsaan was incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison in Marin County, California. From his own experience as a writer, he understood that both outside organizations and incarcerated people lacked the frameworks, relationships, and support systems needed to work together effectively.  Rahsaan paroled in February of 2023 and now serves as the Executive Director.