About

What We Do

Oklahoma Messages Project operates a highly effective prevention and literacy program that makes a positive differences in kids’ lives and helps mitigate the damage of incarceration. By using multi-media filming of parents in prison reading books to their children, the Oklahoma Messages Project helps maintain and improve the parent-child relationship, boost literacy, and improve the child’s social, emotional, and educational outcomes.

for the 135,300 children who have experienced parental incarceration, research shows:

%

15% of all Oklahoma children have a parent in prison during their growing up years

%

the odds of these children developing a serious psychiatric disorder increases by 250%

How We Do It

Our Process

First, we train our team of volunteers to prepare them for visiting prisons and show them how to coach the incarcerated parents while they read books to their children on video.
Next, with the help of our volunteers, we film the incarcerated parents while they are reading books to their children and sharing positive messages like “I love you, and I’m proud of you…”
Finally, we mail out the books and DVD’s of the parents reading the stories to around 1,000 children before Christmas and 1,000 children for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

Who We Are

Our Team

Cheri Fuller

Founder & Executive Director

Holmes Fuller

Program Director

Ali Plum

Assistant Program Director & Volunteer Coordinator

Some of Our Wonderful Volunteers

Our Board

Cheri Fuller, Executive Director
OK Messages Project

Brittany Hunt-Jassey, Board Chair
OKDHS Legislative Liason

Francie Ekwerekwu
Assistant Federal Public Defender
Western District of Oklahoma

Trae B. Rahill, Chairman
Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer of OHCA

Brent Carter
President of UAS Risk

Corey White
Partner, Senior VP, Intelligence Analyst
TriCorp Technologies

 

Sunny Walker
OK Messages Volunteer

Shenita Jefferson
Project Manager, Flourish OKC

Sally Ketchum Edwards Esq.
Rosell Law Group

Joshua James McClintock
Partner, RedAnt, LLC

Stacey A. Wiebelt
Wiebelt & Associates, PLLC

Did You Know?

Quick Facts

For a child, having a family member removed for a short or especially long time, (i.e., several years behind bars) is like a death and takes a huge emotional toll. Over 135,000 children in Oklahoma experience this trauma during their childhood years.

Trauma from having a mother or father imprisoned has negative lifelong effects: school and educational problems, economic hardships, and mental health issues including depression and anxiety. These difficulties can last for decades.

No matter what the parents did, to the children they are still mom and dad, and the kids long for connection.

For the majority of children in Oklahoma, in-person visits aren’t possible. So the “Messages from Mom” and “Messages from Dad” video visits and books provided by the OK Messages Project fill a huge gap in the lives of Children.

Maintaining the parental bond through the powerful and bonding experience of reading aloud together decreases kids’ anxiety and depression, improves their reading and school outcomes-and is the most effective strategy to ensure that children of incarcerated parents will thrive, stay in school and out of prison.

Our Sponsors

We Are Grateful for Your Support