Hello! I’m Rachel
I’m glad you’re here.
I’m an Australian who's been living in New York City since 2007. During that time I’ve been a practicing architect, a public artist, and an executive director.
However, the thing I’m most known for is creating the first arts-based "alternative to incarceration"—Young New Yorkers.
During the decade I founded and lead this incredible organization we kept more than 1,400 young people out of jail.
Yet, that’s not the most important thing we did.
At a time when 100s of 1,000s of mostly black and brown young men were being arrested and jailed for minor infractions we operated from a radical thesis:
What if we could end mass incarceration by shifting the sentencing cultures of courtrooms?
How’d we propose to do this? Via the creative voices of the young New Yorkers themselves.
At the end of each program the young people hosted interactive exhibitions inside the courtroom where they could
Advocate for themselves—who where they beyond their rap sheets;
Advocate for a reformed criminal legal system.
And together we did it. In partnership with the young people who had been sentenced to our program: We transformed the sentencing cultures of NYC courtrooms by changing the hearts and minds of judges and attorneys.
The Honorable Judge Calabrese says:
“Rachel not only made a difference to each young person who participated in her program but changed the mindset forever of many judges and lawyers, thereby giving opportunities to young people for years to come."
