A New Way of Life Reentry Project

Description

A New Way of Life Re-Entry Project (ANWOL) is a grassroots, nonprofit organization founded in 1998 by Susan Burton. After Susan’s five-year old son was accidentally hit and killed by a car, Susan numbed her grief through alcohol and drug abuse. She was not offered help to address her grief. As a result, she became enmeshed in the criminal justice system for nearly two decades before finding freedom and sobriety in 1997. She has since made it her life’s mission to help others adversely affected by the problems of incarceration and addiction by providing them with support and resources. Susan has earned numerous awards and honors for her work. In 2010, she was named a CNN Top Ten Hero and received the prestigious Citizen Activist Award from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She is currently a recipient of both the Encore Purpose Prize (2012) and the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award (2014). In 2015, on the 50th Anniversary of Selma and the Voting Rights Act, Susan Burton was named by the Los Angeles Times as one of eighteen New Civil Rights Leaders in the nation.
A New Way of Life was recently honored with a Ford Freedom Unsung Award that salutes "organizations that have positively impacted communities with achievements that inform and inspire others."