[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5474]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 IN RECOGNITION OF SABRA WILLIAMS AND ROBY SO BEING NAMED CHAMPIONS OF 
                       CHANGE BY THE WHITE HOUSE

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. TED LIEU

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, April 29, 2016

  Mr. TED LIEU of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge 
two outstanding Angelenos, Sabra Williams and Roby So, both of whom 
were named Champions of Change by the White House for expanding fair 
chance opportunities.
  Sabra Williams is the founder and director of the Actors' Gang Prison 
Project. An actress herself, Sabra conducts an 8-week theater program 
in prisons in California. Through her work, inmates have developed key 
social and emotional skills and also have increased their self-esteem 
and tolerance. As a result, the Department of Corrections has seen an 
89 percent reduction in prison violations amongst inmates who have 
completed the Prison Project. Further, inmates who have gone through 
the program have the necessary skills to ease their transition back 
into society after prison, resulting in a lower risk of recidivism.
  Roby So is a formerly incarcerated inmate of 12 years and has turned 
his harsh life experiences into helping others. Roby is the re-entry 
program manager at the Executive Clemency Initiative with Stanford Law 
School's Justice Advocacy Project. The program helps reintegrate 
returning inmates into society after long prison sentences. Roby is 
also a production supervisor in the entertainment industry, serving as 
an example to former inmates that they, too, can successfully 
reintegrate into society.
  As our nation begins to cope with the tragic human toll of our mass 
incarceration experiment, I am proud of the work both Sabra and Roby do 
to help some of the most forgotten members of our society. The White 
House has rightly named them Champions of Change.

                          ____________________