Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnership (COIPP)

During a visit to Petersburg, VA, Federal Penitentiary, our founder witnessed the complete lack of resources for kids who were visiting loved ones, which extended beyond kids just going crazy in a waiting area. Seeing these kids in need, the Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnership (COIPP) was born. Our mission is to foster the growth of strong, resilient, hopeful children who are impacted by an incarcerated loved one in the Frederick County region. Since we began, we have grown in how many children we serve, as well as the scope of our work. We started by standing outside the Frederick County Detention Center and giving away bags for children filled with resources of comfort. In addition to this, we now have programs for children that include monthly activities, a lending/giving library at the jail, resource fairs held six times a year, and more. For caregivers, we have scholarships at FCC, workshops on topics of interest held throughout Frederick, emergency gift cards, and more. For those incarcerated, we have weekly parenting classes, monthly reconnecting classes, weekly meetings for those recently released, scholarships at FCC, and more. When we started, one person led every activity. Now we have a ‘working board’ with every member co-chairing a committee.