Welcome to Season 3, Episode 7, Success Starts at the Root: all about the Roots of Success program! Season 3 features the Washington Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP), how they bring education, nature and training into the prisons to reduce recidivism and protect and enhance our environment.

This is the seventh and final episode of Season 3. If you’ve missed any episodes, you can root around in our archives and listen. So far, we’ve brought you how it all started; a background on the prison system and an introduction to SPP; how SPP is a network of partners working to bring education and nature into the prison system; we’ve also learn more about the SPP Conservation Programs and the Native Plant Nurseries; and rearing endangered Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterflies at the Mission Creek Correctional Facility; as well as some of the Peer-led education programs, including gardening and beekeeping.

In this episode we will learn more about the Roots of Success program from Grady Mitchell, a former participant and current Corrections & Reentry Program Director at Roots of Success.

Guests in this Episode

Emily Passarelli

Emily Passarelli is the Education and Outreach Manager at The Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP). She first worked with SPP as a graduate student from 2015-2017 as the Green Track Program Coordinator. While there she helped coordinate Roots of Success and helped develop the framework for the statewide Beekeeping Program. After she graduated, she went on to work with Centralia College at the Washington Corrections Center as their Education Program Manager. In 2021, she rejoined the SPP Team as the Education and Outreach Manager.

Grady Mitchell

Grady Mitchell is the Corrections & Reentry Program Director at Roots of Success (ROS) Environmental & Job Readiness Curriculum. He is also a motivational speaker and consultant with Grady Mitchell Consulting. Mitchell has taught and mentored hundreds of students in the ROS program and trained men incarcerated in Washington’s prisons to teach ROS classes. Mitchell volunteers for the Washington Department of Corrections in developing volunteer and re-entry policies and continues to mentor.

Roots of Success

Roots of Success is a 10-module curriculum that teaches about the environment and prepares people for jobs. It is focused on those individuals who have traditionally been left out of environmental policy and planning, and is taught in prisons, juvenile facilities, schools, and youth and job training programs across the US. The program has even expanded to the UK and South Africa! It was developed by Dr. Raquel Pinderhughes of San Francisco State University. The program provides a green jobs and career pathways guidebook containing 125+ jobs students will be qualified for once graduating from Roots of Success. Graduates can not only obtain better paying jobs, but can improve their communities.

Grady’s Story

After Emily briefly explains what Roots of Success is, Grady shares his experience learning about Roots of Success and becoming a facilitator. He really believes in the program and has taught and mentored hundreds of students in the Washington State prison system. Grady tells us several stories of what it’s like in the classroom, how seriously everyone takes it, and how in his years of facilitating they have never had an incident in the classroom.

He relates sharing knowledge he gained from the classes with his family to save on energy and to conserve water. They were able to bring their electric bill from $380/month down to $120/month! Many students shared their knowledge with each other, and Grady shares how some students even did a water-use study that led to a campaign to reduce water usage in prison.

Re-entry can be a hard process and Grady tells us a bit about his current role as Corrections and Re-entry Program Director. So often people are on their own and don’t get mental health or other services to transition back into society, and Grady is here to help his contacts through the process, as well as to advocate for all people going through the re-entry process.

Grady talks about a Yale sponsored conference he attended (I believe it was this one) where he learned just how many organizations are doing work similar to Roots of Success and SPP. He also mentions the Taking Nature Black roundtable with the Audubon Society and how much he appreciates nature now.

We ask Grady to share what he wants us to know about re-entry. He wants us to know it’s traumatic on all sides. The only way to heal is for people to keep open minds. It’s important for formerly incarcerated people to hold each other accountable but help each other out. It’s one thing for volunteers or counselors to give advice or try to help, but to hear it from someone who has shared the same lived experience is much more impactful.

“It’s one thing to tell someone they’re great, show them their greatness; and then to have it stifled by hate… always remember that hate is louder than love, but love is bigger than hate.” - Grady Mitchell

Until Next Time…

Thank you so much for joining us this episode!

This episode featured Emily Passarelli, Grady Mitchell and the Roots of Success program. Roots of Success isn’t an SPP program, but SPP does help administer it in the 12 Washington prisons. Grady speaks passionately about Roots of Success and believes it is very empowering and magical. The peer-led education program promotes leadership, cooperation, and science and sustainability education in prisons. The program also fosters relationships, even across racial and political lines, with graduates helping each other during re-entry and throughout life, encouraging each other to stay successful.

This season we learned about how the Sustainability in Prisons Project all started, to how SPP supports and facilitates their partnerships, to more of the details of some of the conservation and education programs. If you missed anything, there are six other episodes of inspiration just waiting for you! We also heard from SPP staff, partners, and former participants about how important science and sustainability education and programs are in prisons. The people we interviewed this season have all learned from their experiences with SPP, whether it was realizing they had what it takes to learn and be successful, or breaking down preconceived notions about incarcerated individuals and prisons. I know I have learned a lot this season, and I hope to be able to make time to become involved in the future. I’d really like to help bring GIS education into the prisons in some way! If you have similarly been inspired, contact spp@evergreen.edu.

Once again, we’d like to thank all of our interviewees this season. We are very grateful that so many people opened up and shared their lived experiences with us. It’s a testament to the impact of the SPP programs and we are glad that we were able to share this wonderful program with you this season.

We will be taking a break before starting work on Season 4. If you have ideas for an upcoming season, please leave them in the comments or email us at outalivepodcast@gmail.com.

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