To Stand Strong

JDPP singer/songwriter Leslie Bird created a special song for our Bridging Boundaries programs more than a decade ago. It is a song about resilience and strength. It is about not giving up and joining as a community to move forward. It is entitled, “Standing Strong.”

Leslie Bird wrote the lyrics with a Prince Tech high school student who was participating in our Bridging Boundaries outreach to youth in Greater Hartford area schools with a parent or loved one in prison.

The reality of prison presents what can often be overwhelming obstacles for personal growth when someone makes the kind of choice that lands them there. At its worst, it is a place of stunting punishment; at its best, it offers the opportunity for rehabilitation and growth. Those carceral institutions that have opened their doors to JDPP and the men and women who participate in our programs are clearly choosing growth and rehabilitation.

But it is not only individuals who are incarcerated who suffer the trauma from and adjustment to the institution of prison. Their children and caregivers do as well in very different ways.

With this forced separation, other family members become the sole providers and caregivers for the children, who often carry the trauma of their missing parent as a closely kept secret that reveals itself in anger, difficulties with authority, withdrawal from group interaction, or a sense of shame or guilt (i.e. “It must have been my fault”).

The family visits that culminate each Bridging Boundaries Moms & Kids and Dads & Kids 2-to-7-week preparatory session at York CI, Cybulski Reintegration Center, and Manson Youth Institution, create a normalized, arts-enriched experience for the residents and their families.

Often these visits end with everyone singing “Standing Strong” together, affirming the strength within themselves and in community—supporting reaching out and asking for help when needed; supporting resilience and the desire to grow that they model as they face the challenges of incarceration.

When I consider the new year, I am struck by the challenges that we may face in this country in 2025 and beyond. The “Standing Strong” song comes to mind in a helpful and relevant way.

We can be resilient; we can amplify voice; and we can continue to inspire change forward with the arts as our vehicle and our guide. We can and will do it.

I offer the song here in this first blog post of our 36^th year. The lyrics are below and please click the link provided to sing along with Leslie Bird.

Here’s to a happy, healthy and hopeful new year! May we all stand strong together.

Standing Strong Song

Standing strong, by helping each other

Standing strong together we’ll be

Standing strong, stand strong together

Standing strong, helping people like me

 

Anger, fear and doubt

Can make me scream and shout

But I don’t have to give in

I can choose to let you in

 

Standing strong, we can be confident

Standing strong in hard times and all

Standing strong, we’ll make it together

Standing strong, you and then me

 

When I’m down and out

And I’m feeling blue

And I don’t know what to do

I know I can count on you.

 

Standing strong, we can be confident

Standing strong in hard times and all

Standing strong, we’ll make it together

Standing strong, you and then me

 

I may be sad inside

But you only see my smile

Helping you and helping me

To keep us hoping to believe.

 

Standing strong, we can be confident

Standing strong in hard times and all

Standing strong, we’ll make it together

Standing strong, you and then me