Ebony Underwood on founding We Got Us Now after her father’s release

Ebony Underwood appears in a recent podcast episode to describe how her father’s release after more than three decades behind bars led her to start We Got Us Now and to push for better support for families of incarcerated parents. In the conversation, Underwood outlines the practical and emotional gaps she encountered when her father returned home and how those experiences shaped her organizing work.

Underwood says the long separation and the challenges of reentry informed the mission of her organization, which focuses on family-centered services, peer support, and public education about the effects of parental incarceration. The episode frames her advocacy as rooted in personal history rather than abstract policy debates, and it highlights the role of community-based groups in filling service gaps for returning family members.

From family experience to organizing

According to the episode, Underwood’s father was incarcerated for more than 30 years before returning home. She traces the founding of We Got Us Now to the direct needs she observed in her own family and neighboring households: reconnecting children with parents, navigating legal and bureaucratic hurdles, and accessing housing, employment, and mental-health supports for returning people and their kin.

The conversation places those practical needs alongside broader advocacy goals: reducing stigma, changing how systems engage with families, and centering the voices of those with lived experience in policymaking. Underwood frames the work as both immediate service delivery and long-term systems change, with an emphasis on families that often fall outside typical criminal-justice reform attention.

Policy and community implications

The episode positions family-focused advocacy as complementary to statutory reform: while lawmakers debate sentencing or parole policies, community groups prioritize the supports that make release sustainable for returning people and their relatives. The guest underscores the importance of cross-sector collaboration between service providers, legal aid, schools, and local government agencies.

Listeners hear about the practical barriers families face on release day and the ways community networks and nonprofits intervene to ease transitions. The discussion also touches on public education and narrative change as tools to broaden public understanding of how incarceration affects entire households over multiple generations.

Looking ahead, Underwood’s work signals continued pressure on service providers and local officials to design reentry resources that address both returning people and the family members who support them. Local advocates and officials can expect sustained engagement from groups emphasizing family-centered approaches to reentry.