This year’s Reentry United Conference was packed with advocates, innovators, and changemakers. But one group in particular stopped me in my tracks: Linkage Community.
I had the tremendous honor of meeting their team, and in that brief conversation, it became clear: they’re not just running programs.
They’re building a movement.
How it Started
Born from the University of Michigan’s Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP), Linkage has grown into a vibrant, statewide network of artists with lived experience of incarceration.
Their mission is as bold as it is necessary; to dismantle isolation, bridge gaps, and center the leadership of those directly impacted by the criminal legal system. They do it through art, creativity, and shared opportunity.
And they do it all completely free for formerly incarcerated individuals.
How It’s Going
Linkage members are offered career-building support, mentorship, exhibitions, paid creative work, peer navigation services, and collaborative spaces that foster connection.
They don’t just help artists find their voices; they amplify them. From building economic mobility to creating platforms for public storytelling, every program is designed with the understanding that the people closest to the problem are closest to the solution.
The coolest part? Linkage has been SO successful, that they spun off from PCAP and are officially standing on their own two feet.
Art is Love
Meeting them reminded me that reentry isn’t just about survival; it’s about belongingness, thriving, telling your story, and shaping the narrative on your own terms.
Linkage is proving that art isn’t just self-expression; it’s a vehicle for justice, connection, and lasting change.
I’ll be joining Linkage on Monday for their Coffee Hour and I couldn’t be more excited. There is something magical about not just building community, but finding people after your own heart.
If you haven’t yet, check them out at linkagecommunity.org. Because when we invest in creativity, we invest in freedom.
