From Books to Second Chances: Literacy, Arts and Youth Justice in Chester County

For-profit prisons use 3rd grade reading scores to decide where to build their next facility. Jan Michener learned that and couldn't let it go.

In this episode, Jan shares how that single fact shaped the work of Arts Holding Hands and Hearts (AHHAH), the organization she founded in 2013 to bring arts, literacy and mindfulness programs to youth incarcerated at the Chester County Youth Center. What started inside a detention center expanded into a county-wide literacy movement, including over 100 pop-up lending libraries throughout Chester County and a local chapter of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program, which mails free, age-appropriate books to enrolled children from birth through age five.

Jan talks about what it looks like to read with young children in a way that builds wonder and empathy, not just phonics. She describes story times at the Kennett Library where kids act out books, explore emotions and make grilled cheese sandwiches in honor of the story they just heard. And she's honest about what she sees on the other end of the literacy gap, where 85% of incarcerated youth are literacy deficient and 75% of incarcerated adults read below a 4th grade level.

Her approach is consistent whether she's working with a toddler or a teenager on probation. She starts by creating a safe space. She asks what happened to you, not what did you do. And she treats every person in the room as someone worth seeing.

AHHAH also produces original books featuring writing, poetry and art from incarcerated youth, and a documentary called Invisible No More. Jan leads a free weekly Yochi movement and meditation class at the Kennett Library on Wednesdays from 10 to 11 AM, open to all.

To learn more, register a child for the Imagination Library or support a book drive, visit ahhah.org.