Meet Angel Gabrielle Alicea of The Black Inmate Commissary Fund

Today we’d like to introduce you to Angel Gabrielle Alicea.

Angel, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My name is Angel Gabrielle Alicea. I am a soon to be 24-year-old community organizer, devoted wife, mother of two and abolitionist. I am the founder of The Black Inmate Commissary Fund. I began organizing around seven years ago as a youth organizer in high school. Because I exist at many intersections, I have been blessed to organize in a variety of capacities, which has led me to working directly against the mass incarceration and enslavement of black people in the United States.

Has it been a smooth road?
The biggest obstacle we have faced is being an abolitionist mutual aid fund trying to go up against the state by boosting the moral of those Incarcerated and those who have been affected by mass incarceration through empowerment and advocating for their liberation and agency.

Please tell us about The Black Inmate Commissary Fund.
The Black Inmate Commissary Fund is a holistic mutual aid fund servicing black and brown incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people throughout the South through 4phase initiatives:

1. Commissary Deposits
2. Rehabilitation and Reentry services
3. Empowering the Holistic incarcerated family
4. Inmate Savings accounts

We raised $50,000 in one month and launched each initiative through micro-grants and programming. Though we are a start-up mutual aid fund, we have a solid and consistent team with two contract staff members Ariana Lima our Administrative Director and Jamee Cornelia, our Communications Director and one board member Caitlin Reeves and two volunteers. I am proud of the impact we have made thus far and with the guidance of God and the empowerment of our community, we can do much more.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Atlanta is a southern organizer’s playground. There is so much wisdom in Atlanta our street bleed blackness and the air taste of freedom. If you wanna do anything, first see what’s happening on the ground. The ATL deserves respect and the organizers who have been doing the work deserve it as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/Blackinmatesmatter
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @blackinmatesmatter
• Facebook: Black Inmates Matter
• Twitter: @BICFGeorgia

Image Credit:
Jamee Cornelia

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