Connect Heal Love Project

My name is Midia Joy Hasso and I am a child of the world. I have been on an awakening journey for the last 4 years & discovered that it is imperative that we never stop being a kid at heart and do what sets our heart on fire. 

I am a Certified Transformational Coach, Vipassana Meditator, Pranic Healer & VXN Workout Instructor with passion for wellness and a life with more joy. I love working with women and children and helping them to reconnect to their true essence of who they are, the creative powerful source of infinite possibilities. 

In the last 4 years, I have served specifically children of inmates to help break the cycle of systemic intergenerational cycle of incarceration.

I have expertise in coaching teams in the luxury goods industry and most recently, I was co-teaching women’s empowerment workshops with Celebrity Coach Jennifer Grace.

The primary goal of the program is to stop the intergenerational cycle of incarceration by assisting the children of incarcerated parents in their social/emotional and academic learning and development through mentoring and skills that are engaging and confidence- building. 

The project involves providing consistent emotional & mental support along with life and leadership skills to the children as well as caregivers and parents in prison. 

Connect Heal Love Project aims to bring multiple organizations together
such as Silent Victims of Crime (SVC), My Joy Academy, Win with Wes, Garden for Feeding and others to help create a structure that helps break the intergenerational cycle of incarceration and helps with healing of our families.

The project will help elevate humanity by breaking the the intergenerational cycle of incarceration and helping our families connect, heal and love as a united family.

While statistically children of incarcerated parents are six times more likely to go to jail, the children in our program are most likely to go to college! More than 75% of children in our program seek higher education and the benefits of productive living through gainful employment.

A large body of research shows that timely and impactful intervention into the lives of at-risk youth can help break the cycle of incarceration. We believe that children who are well-equipped to understand themselves and others will ultimately become more productive contributors to our communities.

"Researchers suggest that the collateral damage related to incarceration may exacerbate social inequality through its negative impact on disadvantaged children and families.

In 2015, the United States had more than 2.17 million people behind bars in state and federal prisons and local jails, representing one of the world’s highest incarceration rates. By contrast, rates for all European countries were under 200 per 100,000 and for Canada stood at 106 per 100,000.

Incarceration is concentrated among minorities: Black and Latino males were significantly more likely to be incarcerated in state and federal prisons in 2015 (1,745 per 100,000 and 820 per 100,000, respectively) than white males (312 per 100,000)."

The project aims to help families that are victims to the systemic cycle of incarceration. Project aims to help provide emotional support, mental health support, educational support, leadership & life skills training to the children of inmates as well as emotional support and mental health care to the incarcerated parents and the caregivers. 

The project involves leadership events, arts, sports,mindfulness and creative free time, activities used to deter kids from crime and destructive behavior. We help steer them towards success in life by providing a Mentor to act as a positive role model for each child. This provides a context for children to learn important life/social skills. 

Connect Heal Love Project aims to bring multiple organizations together such as Silent Victims of Crime, My Joy Academy, Win with Wes, Garden for Feeding and others to help create a structure that helps break the intergenerational cycle of incarceration by assisting the children of incarcerated parents in their social/emotional and academic learning and development through mentoring and skills that are engaging and confidence- building.

In Miami-Dade County, there are 15000 children of inmates. We would like to expand our reach to be able to help more families.

This project serves at-risk children, ages 5-18, 56% of whom are female, whose parents are, or were, incarcerated, who come from high-crime neighborhoods, and who are at a very high risk of continuing an intergenerational cycle of incarceration. 

Our Leadership Program serves 50- 75 girls and boys annually, with a majority of young girls. With help of this project, we would love to expand our reach and serve more families and help break the systemic cycle. 

I have volunteered with Silent Victims of Crime for 4 years and serve as a family coordinator and mindfulness coach for the children. By working with our children and families on a weekly basis, we are able to get to know them and their needs directly. Working with SVC has inspired me to create "Connect, Heal, Love Project" to further expand on the magical work that all the volunteers do currently.

3.5 years ago, I met wonderful Tinkerbell, Holocaust Survivor and founder of SVC, and the amazing children of SVC. I met them at a leadership event at the Miami Opera. As I was sitting next to beautiful miss Jade, who at the time was 7 years old, I put my arm around her to get cozy as we watched opera and after 15 minutes of knowing each other, she leaned over and whispered in my ear. I love you. From that moment on, my entire concept on love changed. As adults we put so many rules on when it is ok for us to say those word, how to say them etc. Here was this incredible little girl who didn’t know about those rules and was just operating from her heart. From that moment on, I knew that these children would be a big part of my life. Miss Jade showed me a love I had never experienced before and I am committed to spreading that love and helping the world become a better place, one being at a time. The Connect, Heal, Love Project was born soon. It is an extension of the work we do at SVC.

I am half Russian & half Kurd from Syria who grew up in Russia and in Sweden. We moved to Sweden during my teenage years and when I was 21 years old, I came alone to US to study. Having lived through the eyes of an immigrant or as I would be called “foreigner/blackhead” ever since I was little and then coming to US and experiencing what it feels like to be labeled a “European white woman” opened up my eyes to my current privilege and my ability to use the new found privileged experience to create change for good in this world. 

4.5 years ago, I met my fiancé, Weslye Saunders, who I fell deeply in love with. He was a big catalyst in my awakening journey and challenged my autopilot and all of my belief systems as he was teaching me about his experiences of being a black man in US. Weslye is an NFL veteran and his purpose is to empower and educate the youth about holistic health and Emotional Intelligence.

We decided to unite in purpose and together contribute to positive change by starting to volunteer together with SVC and "Connect Heal Love" was born.

I am well positioned to serve this problem because I have tremendous LOVE and passion for the children and our families. These children are my extended family and I know I won't stop until we can all come together to help them grow up in a world that allows them to be children of the world just like ME.

I have unique perspective through the eyes of an immigrant yet the privelege of being white in US. I have seen the prison system through my eyes and the families are helping me to learn about it through their eyes. What I have learned is that consistency and showing up is the most important thing in our work as so many children grow up without parental support being present in their lives. So many of our children loose their siblings or their parents to gun violence because of the neighborhoods they live in and some become homeless and we help them find a home and make sure their basic needs are covered. I am the oldest volunteer with SVC, with a consistent track record of showing up and I truly LOVE serving our children and their families.

One of the most challenging situations has been how to engage the children while we are not able to meet in person during the Covid pandemic. Multiple of our families became homeless and were having difficulty putting food on the table. We wanted to help and ensure that our children stay engaged with us.

I am proud of myself for not staying in the panic mode as it was very easy to do when this pandemic hit. I am proud of myself for being creative and coming up with multiple feasible solutions of how to help our families together with Tinkerbell, Weslye and a team of volunteers. We came up with an online program called "Work & Earn (WE)" that entailed our children being able to make $ by participating in weekly ZOOM calls. Our fun lessons focused on reading, dancing, expressing through art and learning how to meditate. I started doing children's weekly meditations online with our children and we are now on week 15. With their participation in the program, the children earn money which they will learn to save in an account in their name. Our kids are so excited to show up and make $.

Every year for my Birthday, I ask my colleagues and friends to come celebrate my bday by contributing to a better world together. For the last 3 years, I have created leadership events around my bday at which each child got to experience a learning/fun activity with an assigned mentor. Coordinating 50 mentors and 65 children to connect has been hands down one of the most amazing experiences in my life and taught me how to be a more compassionate human being.

It costs about $1500-$2000/year/child to ensure that we can best help assist our families and break the cycle.

It costs about $1500-$2000/year/child to ensure that we can best help assist our families and break the cycle with help of volunteers, mentors, leadership events and councelors. We would like to serve our local families in Miami-Dade county. There are a total of 15000 children with incarcerated parents in Miami-Dade.

$2000/child.

Current population of children with incarcerated parents in Miami Dade: 15000.

2020

Start by selecting 150 children to participate in the program.

Total needed: $300000

I am applying because I believe its all hands on deck to create a better world for our children and I know I am not meant to do it on my own. I am looking to collaborate with like minded individuals and be the change that I want to see when I look into our children's eyes.