Justice-impacted children benefit from Wayne State community partnership

Through an ongoing partnership with the Pure Heart Foundation, Wayne State's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences recently hosted the organization's inaugural Breaking The Cycle Youth Summit.

The event invited more than 120 children impacted by parental incarceration, known as Pure Heart Scholars, and their families to campus for roundtable empowerment sessions, panel discussions and more.

The panel featured local influencers, WSU representatives and Detroit Lions Defensive End Charles Harris. Panelists discussed mental health, influence, how to maximize positive exposure and opportunities and, most importantly, how they individually broke the cycle.

Terrell Topps, coordinator for Wayne State's Educational Transition Coordination (ETC) Program, valued his role as a panelist. "Being a part of the summit was both inspirational and directional," he said. "I was inspired by the work being done by organizations like Pure Heart, the Players Coalition and WSU. It was directional in that there's still work to be done to wrap supports around these marginalized youth and their families." Wayne State's ETC Program was designed to clear a pathway for individuals released from prison into higher education institutions.

The summit was a partnership between WSU, Pure Heart and the Player's Coalition, an independent organization working with athletes, coaches and owners across leagues to improve social justice and racial equality in America.

The Pure Heart Foundation aims to embrace children with incarcerated parents and empower them to break the cycle of generational involvement in the criminal justice system. CEO and Founder Sherelle Hogan is grateful for the organization's partnership with Wayne State. "As we reshape our community to acknowledge children of incarcerated parents without the societal stigma and see them as our future leaders, partnerships like these get us closer to breaking the cycle of incarceration."