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

Pollen Initiative is a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating media centers inside prisons and jails 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.

Forward This Productions

Forward This Productions is focused on transforming prison culture and changing the narrative society has of the incarcerated. It provides new economic opportunities for impacted communities by teaching film industry skills and allowing the incarcerated to share their stories through film and digital video.

Prison Media Center-in-a-Box

The Pollen Initiative is expanding the transformative power of SQNews beyond the walls of San Quentin, including documenting a playbook for creating incarcerated-run media centers in prisons outside of California.

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 and jails across the United States. Through hands-on journalism and audiovisual training, as well as leadership programs that facilitate personal growth and transferable skills, the projects led by incarcerated writers and media producers contribute to more balanced, grounded narratives both inside and outside.

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 be storytellers and the prism into their own narratives, Pollen Initiative’s aim is to turn the stigma of incarceration into a catalyst for growth, community impact and transformation. By eliminating the stigma, we in turn create more inclusive and safer communities where everyone can prosper and grow.

Our Vision

To amplify system-impacted stories that foster a fair and balanced narrative and society.

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

Through hands-on journalism and audiovisual training, as well as leadership programs that facilitate personal growth and transferable skills, the projects led by incarcerated writers and media producers contribute to more balanced, grounded narratives both inside and outside.

Our Values

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 help change the way they are viewed by society, make the criminal justice system more rehabilitative, and dramatically reduce the stigma that perpetuates barriers to their restoration and 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 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 and strive for fairness we have to provide them education opportunities and multimedia communication skills capabilities so that they can authentically, and confidently, share their their stories using platforms that they build, manage and help sustain.

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 News and other media programs cultivate to other incarcerated communities. We are expanding to the largest women’s prison in the world Central California Women’s Prison to train and develop the participants in multimedia skills and managing their own platforms. Upon release we also have pathways to internships and employment.

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