Project Avary

Project Avary is a nonprofit organization that provides essential services and community support for the children of incarcerated parents. Their mission is to help lessen the impact of growing up with an incarcerated parent, and to disrupt the cycle of generational incarceration. Project Avary brings children of incarcerated parents together within a community where younger children connect with peers, older teen leaders, and alumni counselors and mentors—many of whom have personal experience with parental incarceration. They help children heal from the impacts of having a parent in prison. Staff and volunteers surround youth with a long-term, supportive community of peer and adult mentors and empower them with leadership development skills so that they can break free from generational cycles of trauma and incarceration. Many of the staff have direct experience with growing up while one or both parents are incarcerated, enabling them to provide authentic and necessary models for successful adulthood despite the many challenges these children face.