Ct-People's Survival Programs

CT People’s Survival Programs (CT-PSP) is building community power across Connecticut through education, advocacy, direct support, and grassroots organizing. In 2025, we’re deepening our work with a series of programs that center the leadership and needs of marginalized communities, especially those impacted by incarceration, housing injustice, and disinvestment.

This summer, CT-PSP is launching Summer of Solidarity—a campaign to build long-term community power and challenge the systems that displace, underfund, and criminalize us. This campaign blends outreach and mutual aid with education and organizing to shift power back to the people.

Focus Areas

• Affordable, Safe Housing
  Equitable Public Education
• Community-Based Safety & Anti-Violence Organizing

Who We're Reaching

• Tenants and low-income renters
• Justice-impacted individuals and returning residents
• Parents and caregivers
• Unhoused neighbors and those facing displacement

We’re proud to launch the Prison Organizers Program, a new opportunity for incarcerated people in Connecticut to lead, advocate, and organize for justice from inside prison walls.

What It Is:
This initiative supports incarcerated individuals who want to organize for better conditions, policy change, and dignity. Participants will:

• Receive a small monthly stipend to their commissary account
• Communicate regularly with CT-PSP staff and other inside organizers
• Help shape advocacy campaigns led by incarcerated people
• Share insights, writing, and feedback to inform our broader movement
   

How to Apply:
To apply, send us a letter by July 25, 2025 that includes:

• Your name and a little about yourself
• Why you want to be a prison organizer
• The changes you’d like to help lead
   

Mail your letter to:
CT-PSP – Prison Organizers Program
PO Box 251
New Britain, CT 06050

 The Alternatives Programs build the organizing capacity of justice-impacted individuals to challenge and replace institutions that perpetuate harm—like prisons and the carceral system—and to build community-rooted responses to harm instead.

Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP)-New Britain

This nationally recognized program is now coming to New Britain. For over 50 years, AVP has supported people in developing practical, peaceful conflict resolution skills—both inside prisons and in the community.

What to Expect:

• 18–22 hour experiential workshop
• Hands-on learning focused on empathy, communication, and problem-solving
• Real-life tools for conflict resolution and community-building

Want to get involved?
Visit tinyurl.com/AVPCTPSP to sign up—we’ll be in touch soon.

Correction Ombudsman Complaints

As part of our advocacy for accountability and systemic change, the Alternatives Program helps connect incarcerated people and their loved ones to mechanisms for reporting harm.

Update (June 2025):
The Correction Ombudsman’s complaint system is temporarily paused. DeVaughn Ward, appointed in September 2024, is currently the only staff member and has been managing a backlog of 189 complaints—most related to medical neglect. As of now, no new complaints are being accepted.

What’s next:

• A new $800,000 state budget, effective July 1, will allow the hiring of two office assistants, an investigator, and an associate ombudsman.
• Plans are in place for facility visits and town halls throughout summer to improve outreach and transparency.
• Recent legislation has expanded the office’s authority
   

Mailing Address (for future complaints once the office reopens):
Office of the Ombudsman
55 Farmington Avenue
Hartford, CT 06105

Email: Devaughn.Ward@ct.gov

Phone: 860-936-2314

We will continue to monitor developments and update our communities when the office begins accepting new complaints again.