Equipping and empowering system-impacted individuals to be community journalists and the prism into their own narratives.

Pollen Initiative is a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating media centers inside prisons across the country.

Programs

San Quentin News

San Quentin News reports on rehabilitative efforts to increase public safety and achieve social justice. SQNews is the world’s premier incarcerated-run journalistic news platform and helped establish San Quentin State Prison’s reputation and influence as a leading light within the criminal justice system on rehabilitative programs.

CCWF Media Center

The CCWF media center is the first media hub in a women's prison in the country. The residents produce the CCWF Paper Trail to engage the community, promote hope, create positive solutions and amplify voices rarely heard.

Film Training Program

The film training program teaches participants the fundamentals of filmmaking as well as the ethics and duty of authentically recording the world around them. It provides career pathway opportunities for impacted communities by teaching film industry skills and allowing the incarcerated to share their stories through film and digital video.

Pollen Playbook

Pollen Initiative is expanding the journalistic training and platforms beyond the walls of San Quentin, the Pollen Playbook documents best practices and policies for creating incarcerated-run media centers in prisons.

About Us

We aim to turn the stigma of incarceration into a catalyst for growth, community impact and transformation.

The Pollen Initiative is dedicated to cultivating media centers inside prisons to shed light on the justice system. Through hands-on multimedia training, as well as leadership programs that facilitate personal growth and transferable skills, our team contributes to more balanced narratives about incarceration.

We support existing prison newsrooms, like the historic San Quentin News, and well as emerging newsrooms and media projects across the country.

By equipping and empowering system-impacted individuals to chronicle the world around them, Pollen Initiative’s aim is to turn the stigma of incarceration into a catalyst for growth, community impact and transformation.

Our Vision

To amplify system-impacted storytellers to help foster a fair and balanced public narrative.

Our mission is to equip incarcerated people with multimedia skills – including written, audio and visual journalism – to share stories that inform policy, build community and change lives.

We envision a society in which system-impacted individuals are included as valuable members of their communities and have access to the tools, resources and platforms that they need to fully participate in society.

The power of humanizing and rehabilation

We believe that providing an authentic window into the lives of the currently and formerly incarcerated can change the way they are viewed by society, make the criminal justice system more rehabilitative and reduce the stigma that perpetuates barriers to their reentry.

Dignity for all

We believe that all sides portrayed in the stories of the incarcerated deserve to be treated with fairness and dignity, and that journalistic values provide a framework for achieving that goal.

Authenticity and accountability

We believe that authenticity and accountability are essential values in journalism and storytelling so we teach critical thinking, objectivity and accuracy.

Empowering and equipping people

We believe that in order for the incarcerated to achieve success , we must provide them educational opportunities and cross-media communication skills so that they can confidently share their their stories using platforms that they build and manage.

Collaboration over competition

We believe prison reform is a human issue and therefore value mission-aligned organizations that support efforts to elevate the voices of all system-impacted individuals.

Integrity and trust

We believe that integrity and trust are necessary to build a more balanced humane narrative about incarceration that leads to solutions.

Institutional Supporters

Thank you for your support

Pollen Initiative is spreading the hope and opportunities that San Quentin media programs cultivate to other incarcerated communities, including the largest women’s prison in the world, the Central California Women’s Facility.