February 15: The Omnia Foundation: Working Against Social Injustice

Jan and Howard Oringer, church members, will speak about their family foundation, the Omnia Foundation, established in 2000. Omnia Foundation provides grants to nonprofit grass-roots organizations working in the area of criminal justice. Their specific focus is to reduce the prison population in California, improve conditions of incarceration and enable formerly incarcerated people to successfully re-enter their communities.

The impact on our society of using incarceration to solve our social problems is a loss of valuable resources, money and people, which could be better used to build our future. Negative societal attitudes towards rehabilitation add to the problem. Alternatives to incarceration afford people a better chance to deal with their issues and get back on track. In this time of budget reform, a new governor and attorney-general, reducing the prison population may assist us in cutting the deficit and providing social justice.

Jan and Howard Oringer

Tuesday, February 15