In episode 5 of Hiding in Plain Sight: The Neighbors You Never Hear From, Host Tia Ryans speaks with Summer Sprofera, who disclosed just how difficult her reentry journey was and still is because of the trauma of incarceration.

Summer was incarcerated for approximately 9 years at Edna Mahan Correctional facility. She has learned how to grow through a terrible situation and be empathetic to those still struggling. Summer Sprofera is a graduate of Rutgers University where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Planning and Design. Summer is the recipient of the American Society of Landscape Architects’ Merit Award for a memorial she co-designed for Martin Luther King. She was also awarded a grant through Princeton University’s Molecular Biophysics Program to conduct a plant comparison at Liberty State Park. Summer currently works at Branch Brook Park in Newark, NJ as the Director of Landscape Management.

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Hiding In Plain Sight: The Neighbors You Never Hear From is produced by Tia Ryans, Brit Harley, and Dionysus Augus.

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This series is part of the Newark News, and Story Collaborative made possible with funding support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the Victoria Foundation. The Newark News and Story Collaborative is committed to elevating community-driven storytelling to fill information gaps in local and national media. The Collaborative trains community members in storytelling, media-making, and other creative art forms to share and amplify their experiences. It’s laying the groundwork for a collaborative network that will address longstanding information inequities in Newark, New Jersey. For more information and to hear local stories, visit newarkstories.com.