Project Mend focuses on writing and publishing as a means by which formerly incarcerated individuals and their families can reimagine themselves, their communities, and their futures. Self-expression through writing holds a potential for the transformation of not only those who create, but for those who may read the published works. 

The initiative consists of two parts: Mend Syracuse, a publishing apprenticeship for justice-impacted people and Mend, a journal featuring the works of anyone impacted by mass incarceration. Both components concern the power of writing to bring about change, exploring how individuals learn to write themselves into new identities and new lives. 

Project Mend is made possible through collaboration with the Center for Community Alternatives and from an HNY Post-Incarceration Humanities Partnership, which is generously supported by the Mellon Foundation. Additionally, the project has been supported at Syracuse University by the Engaged Humanities Network, the Humanities Center, the SOURCE, the Department of Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition, and a CUSE Research Grant.  

For more information, contact Patrick W. Berry at mendthejournal@gmail.com