Daughters of Wisdom Award $15,000 Grant to Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
The Daughters of Wisdom has awarded a $15,000 Wisdom Grant to Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP). FADP is a Florida-based, state-wide organization of individuals and groups working together to end the death penalty in Florida. Their network includes dozens of state and local groups and thousands of individual Floridians, including murder victims’ family members and other survivors of violent crime, law enforcement professionals, families of the incarcerated, and death row exonerations. Using a coordinated, strategic, and empowerment-oriented approach, FADP works to build and mobilize public and political support for abolition. Their short-term objectives include reducing death sentences, opposing executions, and changing the statewide conversation about the death penalty by highlighting the tremendous support for abolition. They prioritize protecting the humanity of persons impacted by the death penalty and the criminal justice system and contributing to the national momentum for repeal.
“The generous grant from the Daughters of Wisdom helps us continue and expand our mission of building support for ending the death penalty in Florida. We are currently working on legislation to protect persons with serious mental illness and exempt them from the death penalty,” said Sheila Meehan, FADP Chair. She continued, “The grant helped us create the newly organized SMI Alliance (Alliance to Protect People with Serious Mental Illness). The Alliance will work with state and national partners to pass this important, compassionate legislation. Because of your support we were able to attend a statewide conference of hundreds of mental health advocates (NAMI – National Alliance on Mental Illness), where we gathered signatures to advance the legislation and signed up additional partners in our efforts.”
This is a second-year grant to FADP, and this grant was endorsed by Sr. Lucy Clynes, D.W.
Below are photos of some of FADP’s board members and staff attending the NAMI Conference, which was made possible by the Daughters of Wisdom Grant.
Top left - Herman Lindsey - board member and 23rd person exonerated from Florida's death row. Top right - Roger Weeden - board member; attorney. Bottom left - Bridget Maloney - Communications Coordinator. Bottom right - Rachel Newman - board member; public defender.
Board member Nancy O'Byrne and her husband, David, lobbying Rep. James Bush at the legislature.
Example of materials that FADP was able to create to advance the death penalty exemption legislation.