Joan E. Hunt

This interview was conducted with Joan Hunt in her home in Hudson, NY, on Friday, June 22nd, 2018. Her twin daughters, Athena and Adriana (8 months of age) were also present for the interview. Joan is a community organizer in Hudson, NY, where she co-directs Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood, a cradle-to-career center for local youth. In this interview, Joan describes her Childhood in and around Hudson, including her time at the Copake Camphill site; her early education, higher education at New York University, training in social work at Hunter College,  projects she has worked on, and efforts she has organized in her time in New York City and Hudson. She discusses the effects of  incarceration on Hudson, changes in the city government and community engagement, perspectives on community violence and law enforcement, her experiences as a new mother, and what changes she sees in store for her community.

This interview would be of interest to those curious about systems change, grassroots organizing, social work, Kite’s Nest, Camphill, academic success, motivation, leadership, service orientation, mass incarceration, incarcerated parents, children of incarcerated parents, police community relationships; out of school programming; cradle-to-career initiatives, youth outreach, motherhood, working mothers, gentrification, Hudson, Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood, carceral reform, jails, prisons, demographic change, Harlem Children’s Home, New York University (NYU), Osborne New York Initiative for Children of Incarcerated Parents; Enhanced Child Visit program, and social work.