Our ED Dr. Cathy Marston birthed FBTW from inside the Texas prisons, where she served 9 years in TDCJ for acting under duress from abuse. She has published on criminalized abuse survivors since 2010 & presented on the history of clemency efforts for Texas survivors in 2019 for the National State Clemency Awareness convening of the National Council for Incarcerated & Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls. Most recently, she wrote all of the text for our exhibit, “Acting under Duress, Surviving with Resilience” that has shown at the 1^st Unitarian Universalist Church of San Antonio and the Lost River Film Festival in San Marcos in 2024. Cathy and our board Treas. Cheryl Craig, another formerly incarcerated survivor and a disabled vet, were also on a panel at the film festival in October 2024 with JoeBill Muñoz the director of the documentary, “The Strike.”

Since 2017, the 1^st Unitarian Universalist Church of San Antonio has been the site of annual holiday mailing parties to our incarcerated and released sisters. Most Januarys since 2017, we host a panel or film screening for Dream Week.