Wearing a New York Mets hat and a denim jacket, Cheryl Wilkins was the perfect hostess. Cracking jokes, she made sure guests — particularly young people — attending a block party in front of the state’s former Bayview Correctional Facility felt welcomed. Wilkins, who was released in 2005 after spending nearly two years incarcerated in the facility, knows what it’s like to be young and not know where to turn.
“I have a brother who died of an overdose when I was 9 years old,” Wilkins said. “I wish I would have had a place where I could unpack some of the things that were happening in my life.”
Now Wilkins is helping to create such a place for future generations.
Last year, the state of New York awarded the NoVo Foundation and the Goren Group rights to develop the facility, which was closed in 2012 after sustaining damage during Superstorm Sandy. NoVo’s goal is to transform the facility, renamed the Women’s Building, into a hub of office and meeting space for organizations working on behalf of girls and women.
[For more of this story, written by Karen Savage, go to http://jjie.org/ex-inmates-hel...en-and-girls/317126/]
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