The Place4Grace

10/29/2026

🎃👻 SAN BERNARDINO FAMILIES—let’s get those little pumpkins Halloween ready! 🦸🏽‍♂️👑🦖

Check out this FREE COSTUME GIVEAWAY for kids of all ages! Help your little ones dress up, get creative, and enjoy the Halloween magic! ✨

📅 Friday, October 30
⏰ 6–9 PM
📍 1355 E. Highland Ave.
San Bernardino, CA 92404

Bring the kids and spread the word—every child deserves a little Halloween joy! 🧡💜

10/24/2026

A hug. Holding your child. Reaching for a loved one’s hand. These moments help families stay connected through incarceration. 💙

At The Place4Grace, we know the people inside are our mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, partners, and loved ones. Family connection matters—and families deserve dignity when they visit.

📣 We’re sharing this overview of California’s visiting protections and the HUGS Act to help families understand what these changes mean for their time together.

📲 Save this graphic, share it, and send it to someone with a loved one inside. Families deserve access to information that affects them.

We will keep advocating for meaningful visits, stronger family bonds, and the opportunity for children to grow up knowing their parents. 🫶

10/23/2026

I just finished moderating the Family Reunification panel at WACHSA, and I’m still taking it all in. The room was engaged. There were gasps, tears, and moments when you could feel people sitting with something they may never have considered before. ❤️

I am deeply grateful to WACHSA for inviting me into this conversation and to our panelists for trusting the room with their experiences.

I hope we left folks with a lot to think about—especially those working in healthcare and other non-correctional roles inside our prisons. Every interaction matters. The way you speak to someone, listen to them, and respond to their needs can help build trust and support healing—or deepen the harm they already carry.

Our people inside are our sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives. Their humanity and their family connections deserve care.

Thank you to everyone who leaned in today. I would love to return next year for a much deeper discussion. There is so much more we need to talk about. 💜

10/17/2026

Big possibilities for Camp Grace in Nevada! 💛✨

At the Western Region Reentry Summit, we met with Nevada Department of Corrections Director, James Dzurenda, and his team—and their excitement about bringing Camp Grace to Nevada has us feeling incredibly hopeful!

Our conversation highlighted the challenges of keeping families connected when loved ones live out of state or are incarcerated in remote locations like Ely, in remote eastern Nevada. Distance, travel costs, and limited access can put even a simple visit out of reach.

That’s why this opportunity means so much. Camp Grace creates time for children and their incarcerated parents to reconnect, build memories, and simply be a family. 🫶🏽

Thank you, Director Dzurenda and team, for welcoming this conversation and sharing our excitement about what could come next. We look forward to exploring how we can bring Camp Grace to Nevada—because children deserve connection, wherever their parents are incarcerated. 💛

10/16/2026

9 YEARS HOME, 9 YEARS OF PURPOSE, GROWTH, AND IMPACT!

October 12, 2026, marked 9 years since my husband came home from prison, and the work he has been doing since his release has been nothing short of amazing!

Instead of allowing his past to define him, he made it his mission to help others navigate the same journey. He has turned his experiences into purpose, advocacy, and meaningful change.

Today, my husband spoke at the 2026 Western Region Reentry Summit in Reno, Nevada, and I cannot begin to express how proud I am of him!

When I tell you there wasn’t a dry eye in the room, I mean it! His testimony, passion, and commitment to this work touched so many people.

The work The Place4Grace is doing deserves to be recognized NATIONWIDE! Reentry is about more than coming home from prison. It’s about rebuilding families, restoring relationships, breaking generational cycles, and creating opportunities for people to succeed.

I’ve witnessed firsthand the sacrifices, challenges, growth, and determination behind this journey.

To my husband, I AM SO PROUD OF YOU! Your story is proof that your past does not have to determine your future.

A special thank you to Western Region Reentry Summit for organizing such an incredible summit and creating a space for powerful testimonies, meaningful conversations, and connections.

People deserve second chances, families deserve healing, and returning citizens deserve opportunities to thrive!

I’ll be dropping the video soon because this message deserves to be heard!

9 YEARS HOME AND THE BEST IS STILL YET TO COME!

Follow: The Place4Grace Western Region Reentry Summit

10/16/2026

10/15/2026

DAY 1 RECAP: WESTERN REGION REENTRY SUMMIT! 🫶🏾

Day 1 of the Western Region Reentry Summit with The Place4Grace was all about connection, collaboration, and creating pathways to second chances!

We had the opportunity to connect with incredible leaders, organizations, and advocates who are committed to breaking barriers, strengthening families, reducing recidivism, and helping justice-impacted individuals successfully transition back into their communities.

Reentry is about more than coming home. It’s about having access to housing, employment, mental health support, family reunification, and the resources needed to build a sustainable future.

We’re excited to be part of these important conversations and look forward to sharing more about the impactful work The Place4Grace is doing through its Home2Stay: A Gate-to-Community Framework for Lasting Reintegration presentation.

Day 1 is in the books! Stay tuned for Day 2! 💙

10/13/2026

✈️🧳 RENO, HERE WE COME!!! 💙🔥

Our flight leaves tomorrow morning, and The Place4Grace team is ready to bring our passion, purpose, and powerful work to the Western Region Reentry Summit! 🙌🏽✨

Karen McDaniel and Christophe Woolley will be presenting Home2Stay: A Gate-to-Community Framework for Lasting Reintegration—sharing how we help people come home, reconnect with family, and build a foundation for lasting success. 🏡🤝💙

📅 Friday, October 16
⏰ 9:40–10:55 AM
📍 Grand Ballroom 5 • Reno, Nevada

We’re excited to connect, learn, and build with others who believe in the power of second chances! If you’ll be there, come say hello—and join us Friday morning! 🎤💫

✈️🏔️💙

SecondChances RenoBound

10/06/2026

Day 1 of the 2026 California Youth Justice Summit was powerful, grounding, and deeply inspiring. 💙

We especially appreciated beginning the day with the grounding and Land & Labor Acknowledgements led by Maestro, Jerry Tello, and Baba Greg Hodge. It was such an intentional way to open a gathering focused on healing, justice, community, and the future of our young people.

It was also wonderful to hear from Secretary Kim Johnson, whose leadership and words continue to inspire, and to celebrate Judge Katherine Lucero as she was recognized for five years of leadership and service with the Office of Youth and Community Restoration.

But the greatest highlight for us was the YOUTH. Young people who have experienced incarceration and being held in cells are now standing in their power—thriving, advocating, organizing, and leading their communities. Their voices aren’t simply being included in this summit; they are helping shape it. The Youth Advisory Board played an integral role in planning this entire conference, and that has been evident throughout every part of the experience.

We were also thrilled to cheer for Jessica Nowlan of Young Women’s Freedom Center as she was honored with the Youth Voice Champion Award—so well deserved! And one of the best parts of gatherings like this is reconnecting with longtime friends and partners, including Edwin Paragas from ARC.

There is something incredibly powerful about being in a space where people with lived experience—especially young people—aren’t just invited to the table. They are helping build the table, set the agenda, and lead the way forward.

Day 1 was phenomenal. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings. 🧡

LivedExperience JusticeReform CommunityRestoration OYCR ThePlace4Grace SeeUsSupportUs

09/24/2026

What does family reunification really take after incarceration? It takes more than a release date. It takes care, connection, and a willingness to listen to the families living through it.

We are honored to share that our founder, Karen McDaniel, has been invited to speak at the 2026 WACHSA Correctional Healthcare Conference in San Diego! She’ll moderate the Family Reunification Post-Incarceration panel on Friday, October 23, at 8:00 a.m.

This conversation is close to her heart. She raised her children through years of prison visits, and that experience led her to found The Place4Grace. She is looking forward to bringing a family perspective to the room and learning alongside people working in correctional health and reentry.

https://www.wachsa.org/speakers/family-reunification-presentation/

OCT 21-23 Toward a Broader Understanding of Justice-Involved Health | 2026