Origins of The PATHfinder Club
The PATHfinder Club was inspired by and founded upon the model of POPS the Club. Pain of the Prison System (POPS the Club) was founded in 2013 at Venice High School in Los Angeles, California by husband-and-wife cofounders Amy Friedman, writer and activist, and Dennis Danziger, an English teacher at Venice High School. POPS grew out of the founders’ personal stories, and they began to discuss ways to help Amy’s stepdaughters and other young people overcome the stigma they felt as a result of having an incarcerated loved one.
Amy and Dennis did their research and learned that one in 14 children has or has had a parent in prison.
Aware of the strong cultural belief that these children are primed to follow their parents to prison, the founders were careful to stress this fact: research does not support this belief, but the stigma imposed by that belief is part of what leads young people to keep secret their own traumatic experiences.
With the support of Dr. Elsa Mendoza, the former principal at Venice High School, Amy and Dennis invited students to join a new Club they had designed to support students whose lives were impacted by incarceration. Dennis knew that many of his own students were suffering in silence. Dennis quietly announced the new club to each of his 6 classes, and 10 students came to that first meeting; through word of mouth, that number quickly expanded to 25.
In weekly club meetings, students shared their personal stories, often releasing secrets they had carried and shame they had felt.
Because they understood that breaking bread together breaks down barriers, Amy and Dennis provided lunch. Students talked, and they wrote, and their poems and stories were published in May 2013 in a section of an anthology Friedman edited and PEN America published.
Due to media coverage, students and teachers from other schools reached out; in early 2015, four new clubs launched. Many POPS graduates began to volunteer and speak and do advocacy work at other clubs and in the community. After co-editing and publishing 6 annual award-winning anthologies of POPS members’ work, in 2020 Amy and Dennis launched Out of the Woods Press. Recognizing the critical need for a program that supports youth impacted by incarceration, POPS expanded to 19 schools across five states by 2022, serving about 500 youth annually, publishing 8 anthologies of their writings and artwork and creating dozens of impactful partnerships.
Among the most meaningful and vital partnerships was the one forged with The Pathfinder Network.
A chance meeting at the 2018 Arizona State University conference sparked a lasting partnership. There, Amy met Leticia Longoria-Navarro, Executive Director of The Pathfinder Network, and they began a conversation that would continue for years about expanding the vision and the impact of POPS to Oregon and beyond.
The conversation began with Leticia’s deep understanding of the power of POPS given her experience as a child of incarcerated parents and her desire to bring such a club to the students at Parkrose High School in Portland, Leticia’s alma mater near The Pathfinder Network’s headquarters. A partnership was evolving, slowed by Covid in 2020 when schools closed down. But the dream never died, and at last, in early 2022, with Amy and Dennis’s support and guidance, Leticia and her team launched Oregon’s first club for youth impacted by incarceration, detention, and deportation, The PATHfinder Club (TPC). Victor Trillo Jr., and Jess Sandoval, both impacted by parental and family incarceration and systems involvement, led this club that served more than 75 youth in the first year.
To strengthen and scale their impact, POPS the Club and Out of the Woods Press became part of The Pathfinder Network in early 2023, utilizing the network’s infrastructure for management and operations.
POPS mission continues under The Pathfinder Network, which upholds the legacy and continues to operate Clubs around the country, publishing annual student anthologies. Our anthologies are powerful collections of Club members’ voices, sharing their stories, poetry, art, and other wisdom. Through these efforts, we continue to uplift and empower youth affected by the prison system and other systems, providing them with a platform to heal, express their creativity, and thrive.
In 2024, The Pathfinder Network launched The PATHfinder Club, featuring a variety of enhancements informed by more than three decades of work serving individuals, youth, and families right where they are at every point of the criminal justice system and beyond.
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