Healing Homes Farm Project gets off the ground

All long-serving women deserve a safe, welcoming place to begin anew after coming out of prison. Yet formerly incarcerated women face many barriers when they return to our communities. That is especially true for those who have served long sentences.  

For years, AFSC's Michigan Criminal Justice Program has supported women on their path to freedom. Now, with the support of dozens of donors and volunteers, we’ve launched a new housing project rooted in healing and love. 

In March 2026, women serving long-time inside Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Center in Ypsilanti wrote an open letter proposing the Women’s Clemency and Resentencing Initiative. This plan of actionable solutions will ultimately result in the reform and release of approximately 800 women over a three-year period. 

AFSC’s Healing Homes Farm Project grew out of their proposal. Here’s what the women of Huron Valley envision: 

“This project is being developed to provide supportive housing with wraparound services and peer-led programming for long-serving women returning to the community.  

Healing Homes Farm is a project founded in understanding the power of transformation, the importance of staying connected to loved ones and community, the love in liberation, and the possibility of always healing.” 

Healing Homes Farm Project is the culmination of AFSC’s Freedom Hub work that accompanies long-serving women through our Good Neighbor project, which includes commutation writing. We support non-punitive, restorative approaches that treat people with dignity and facilitate healing. 

Recently, 43 people donated over $36,000 to Healing Homes Farm Project. Their gifts match an initial $25,000 donation.

From June through August, AFSC hosted Volunteer Days at the farm in cooperation with Second Chance Battalion, our partner organization. Over a dozen volunteers joined AFSC staff in clearing trees, burning brush, hanging drywall and laying flooring in the farmhouse on the property.

Join us on Saturday, September 19, for our Open House! Tour Healing Homes Farm, meet our community, enjoy local food, and learn how we’re creating opportunities for justice-impacted women.

We’re opening up the farm and inviting the community to come see what we’ve been working on, meet the people behind the project, and learn more about our work supporting justice-impacted women as they build stability, independence, and a new chapter after incarceration.

Come tour the farm, check out our gardens, greenhouse, animals, and learning spaces, and meet participants, staff, community partners, and others who have helped bring Healing Homes Farm to life. Register here.

Thanks again to everyone who are supporting women on their journey to liberation.