Jimmy Wu on Clubhouse

Bio

Lifting up truths, mindful of exploiting. Every time a person is asked to share their story, it takes them back to that place. Either good or bad. Let’s be consistently sensitive to that.

I’m Jimmy Wu and the Executive Director of InsideOUT Writers (IOW), a nonprofit organization that teaches nearly 30 weekly creative writing classes inside the Los Angeles County juvenile halls and 9 adult state prisons. IOW also offers reentry services and support to youth and young adults upon their return to their homes and communities. Twenty-five year ago, when I was just 16 years old, I made a horrible decision to commit a crime which resulted in 13 ½ years of incarceration. It was during my time in a juvenile detention facility in Los Angeles that I was introduced to IOW and became one of the organization’s first creative writing students. My firsthand experiences of growing up in our California detention facilities has driven me to become an advocate for juvenile justice reform and my work at IOW allows me to assist with providing direct services to young men and women returning to society while also overseeing all administrative responsibilities and actively fundraising on behalf of IOW. In the near 9 years of being on staff at IOW, I have embraced my previous roles as IOW’s Case Manager and Alumni Advocacy Director, followed by Interim Executive Director to my current role as the Executive Director.

Separate from my work at IOW, I was a Reentry Coordinator or "Pick-Up Artist" for Stanford Law School's Ride Home Program between 2015 - 2017. It was a privilege for me to travel to several states in our nation to pick up recipients of President Barack Obama's Clemency Initiative from the federal prison gates they were released from to transport them to their assigned halfway houses. During my time with each of them, I shared my own experiences of reentry and transition with the hope it would be helpful for them to acclimate to a world that evolved while they were in a time capsule. Along the way, basic necessities such as clothing, food and hygiene items were purchased for them in addition to information to local resource centers in their communities.

Let’s talk and learn from one another.