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Executive Director Announcement (9/12/22)

To Our Colleagues, Allies, Supporters and Friends;

After nearly 40 years with Friends Outside…the past 22 years in the Executive Leadership role… doing this challenging, joyful and rewarding work, I am moving on to a new and exciting role with a little different perspective. I will be taking a different chair at the Friends Outside table.

This is not an announcement of my retirement just yet, but rather moving on with a new adventure with Friends Outside supporting the work, the agency, the Board and the incoming Executive Director as advisor, mentor, ally and friend as we negotiate the transition together.

I am exceptionally proud of nearly 40 years with Friends Outside, first as volunteer, then Board Member, then Case Manager, moving to Program Administrator over our new Visitor Centers Contract, our LINK mentorship program, and several innovative adventures that helped to inform the work. We continue to   advocate before the California State Legislature on behalf of incarcerated and reentering people and their families. And of course, I am especially proud of providing the framework and experience for creation of the Bill of Rights for Children of Incarcerated Parents, setting the stage for national recognition and adoption of the Rights by state legislatures nationwide. In addition, I have been able to inform responsible parenting practice for incarcerated fathers, setting the standards of practice as a consultant for the Annie Casey Foundation.

My proudest moments have been raising the bar for the work, mentoring and guiding those practitioners who bring their commitment, their passion, and their expertise to the work every day.

Friends Outside has changed the lives of so many people….one at a time. One child at a time. One family at a time. We are in the community, providing intervention with youngsters who are ready to do things differently. We are in prison, in true Quaker tradition, bringing the outside world to those who are inside, letting them know they are not forgotten. We fight violence with nonviolence…offering choices and hope to individuals, families, neighborhoods and communities that are torn apart by gun violence.

And the best is yet to come.

In the coming months the board will implement a comprehensive search strategy for the new Executive Director. We will advertise the opportunity, interview qualified candidates and make the final selection.

I look forward to continuing to grow the work as advisor and supporter, but from a different perspective… as an ally to our new Executive Leadership.  

Thank you for your support, for standing by us and for us, for looking for and finding hope where there has so often only been despair.

And now, stay tuned for the next chapter as we continue to make a difference, one day at a time.

Warm regards,
Gretchen Newby, MA
Executive Director

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