Exchange for Change | Teaching incarcerated people writing, leadership, and communication skills
Kathie Klarreich, founder of Exchange for Change, a nonprofit that teaches writing, leadership, and communication skills to incarcerated men and women across Florida.
Kathie's path here started far from the Key: as a freelance journalist covering Haiti through a coup, a devastating earthquake, and a decade of reporting for outlets like NBC, ABC, and TIME. That work eventually led her into a Homestead women's prison classroom in 2009 and to founding Exchange for Change in 2014, which today reaches roughly 700 students a year across state prisons, county jails, and juvenile facilities in Florida, run by a staff of just two and a half people and a corps of volunteer facilitators from FIU, University of Miami, Miami Dade College, and Florida Atlantic University.
We talk about how the program pairs incarcerated students with university students for an exchange of letters and ideas, how former students have gone on to teach classes themselves inside other facilities, the difference between jail and prison, the wellness and mindfulness programs that have grown out of the writing classes, and why Kathy believes giving people inside a voice — rather than telling their stories for them, is the whole point.
Topics covered:
How a career in Haitian journalism led to a nonprofit in Florida prisons
The origins of Exchange for change and its university exchange model
A typical day teaching inside Everglades and Homestead Correctional
Leadership councils, student-led classes, and expanding to new institutions
Wellness programming: mindfulness, meditation, and trauma toolkits
Getting incarcerated writers published
Jail vs. prison, explained
Key Biscayne Stories is a podcast where neighbors meet neighbors.
#KeyBiscayne #ExchangeForChange #PrisonEducation #Nonprofit #Journalism #KeyBiscayneStories
Kathie's path here started far from the Key: as a freelance journalist covering Haiti through a coup, a devastating earthquake, and a decade of reporting for outlets like NBC, ABC, and TIME. That work eventually led her into a Homestead women's prison classroom in 2009 and to founding Exchange for Change in 2014, which today reaches roughly 700 students a year across state prisons, county jails, and juvenile facilities in Florida, run by a staff of just two and a half people and a corps of volunteer facilitators from FIU, University of Miami, Miami Dade College, and Florida Atlantic University.
We talk about how the program pairs incarcerated students with university students for an exchange of letters and ideas, how former students have gone on to teach classes themselves inside other facilities, the difference between jail and prison, the wellness and mindfulness programs that have grown out of the writing classes, and why Kathy believes giving people inside a voice — rather than telling their stories for them, is the whole point.
Topics covered:
How a career in Haitian journalism led to a nonprofit in Florida prisons
The origins of Exchange for change and its university exchange model
A typical day teaching inside Everglades and Homestead Correctional
Leadership councils, student-led classes, and expanding to new institutions
Wellness programming: mindfulness, meditation, and trauma toolkits
Getting incarcerated writers published
Jail vs. prison, explained
Key Biscayne Stories is a podcast where neighbors meet neighbors.
#KeyBiscayne #ExchangeForChange #PrisonEducation #Nonprofit #Journalism #KeyBiscayneStories
