Empowerment Avenue’s Writing for Liberation track is a collection of the most skilled and insightful writers and journalists who happen to be incarcerated. At any given time, Empowerment Avenue supports 25 to 30 writers in facilities around the country.

Empowerment Avenue is not a publisher. Instead, we help writers pursue their freelance writing careers. We are the intermediary who helps writers get published and paid. We pair Editorial Counsel members (volunteers) to work on one story at a time with one incarcerated writer at a time.

Between May of 2020 and March of 2023, Empowerment Avenue writers earned over $110,000 in earnings from writing. Writers have published hundreds of articles, essays, op-eds and investigative reporting in dozens of publications, including the New York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald, The Appeal and Marshall Project.

Empowerment Avenue writers have access to a number of resources beyond one-one-one volunteer support. We provide funding for supplies like stamps and books, send them outside media including news articles, newsletters and magazines, and connect them to editors and publishers seeking to work with incarcerated people.

**We do not have an open application process into the program. We recruit writers who have already begun to publish their work.