Sometimes we get so busy we forget to stop and celebrate our accomplishments. Luckily, our community partners and allies remind us. Last week, we were honored to accept the Orleans Public Defenders’ Clyde Merritt Award for our bail fund work designed specifically to bring Black women home to their families and communities. 
We believe OPD chose to recognize the work that we do with the assistance of our tireless Bail Fund coordinator, volunteer and SONG member, Laura Ekua, and our new Bail Fund organizer, Miranda Yonta, because our work has never stopped with bail. 
We recognize that the women that are bailed out come from communities that are over policed and under resourced. We know that the bail fund is just one part of a much larger equation that helps to inform the work we do to combat predatory policing and end the criminalization of people who have been marginalized, specifically Black women. 
Help us continue our work to not only bail out Black women and mothers, but provide them with the community based supportive services they may need.