Welcome to FreeTHEMinc.

A MESSAGE FROM:   MaLisa M. Blasini | Founder & Executive Director

I Was Born. Bred. Life Built Me. Kept Believing in My Faith - Through It All - I Remain Unbroken.

Born & Raised Puerto Rican in the South Bronx, I learned to survive before I Understood what I was experiencing.

 

Growing up, Directly & Indirectly exposed to Substance Misuse, Hardship, Homeliness, Toxic Relationships,

Unacknowledged Mental Health Illness, various forms of Violence and circumstances that required me to

React & Respond with rarely having the guidance, support, or tools to understand what was happening around me.

 

One experience I carry with me happened when I was 14. I gave my jewelry to a friend of my mother's

to sell so she could obtain heroin to help my mother through withdrawal sickness. When my mother and I

saw each other afterward, we both understood what had happened. We also shared the hope that perhaps

this would be the moment things would change. It wasn't. I learned something no child should have to learn:

loving someone does not mean you can save them, fix everything, or continue carrying what is beyond your

control.

Those experiences shaped who I became, the mother I am, and the difference I wanted to make.

 

FreeTHEMinc BEGAN - With a desire to be the difference for others that I wish someone had been for me, my

brothers, cousins, friends, and neighbors - Founded in January 2016, FreeTHEMinc grew from prayer, lived

experience, and

to Educate the reality:  ANYTHING IN EXCESS CAN BECOME AN ADDICTION – NOT JUST STREET DRUGS,

PRESCRIPTION PILLS OR ALCOHOL.  DIRECT & INDIRECT EXPOSURES ARE AS EQUALLY IMPACTFUL.

This includes Behaviors, circumstances, environments, relationships, and influence how we think, feel,

respond, and live.

 

People Are deeply affected by Substance Misuse without ever using a Substance THEMselves.

 

Creating SPACE to LEARN, GROW, LOVE & HEAL - Through Crafting Through Crisis — Expressing the

Unspoken, our Mental Health Fair, Anti-violence initiatives, and various youth workshops developed

including other platforms we create – the foundational components are to make sure safes are nonjudgmental

where people feel Acknowledged, Considered and Valued.

 

I want our youth to recognize the connections between their real-life experiences without feeling embarrassed,

isolated, or feel they are defined by them. I want them to learn earlier than I did how to recycle the skills they

developed to survive into tools for healthier choices, for decisions of positive and productive lives for a

successful future of their own choosing.

 

This includes recognizing toxicity, establishing healthy boundaries, expressing feelings without shame, and

understanding that their circumstances do not have to determine their future.

 

BRINGING OUR CommUNITY TOGETHER - Our Annual Multicultural CommUNITY Celebration brings this

philosophy to life. We Highlight Our Similarities Within Our Differences - showing that we have more in

common than differences.

It’s an opportunity for people of different backgrounds, cultures, generations, and experiences to bond and

connect without feeling they have to compete. When people feel acknowledged, considered, and valued, they

welcome appreciating one another to build relationships and celebrate what brings us together.

 

CIVIC Awareness’s, Collective ACTIONS with United VOICES - I also believe People especially our youth must

Understand the Journey of our Past, the Choices available in our Present, and How choosing can affect and/or

limit their/generational futures. 

Not Voting Is Another Way of Voting ~ but Without Exercising Your Selection.

 

Choosing a political party deserves thought, just as choosing a partner does. Both involve a relationship with

values, expectations, priorities, and accountability.

 

Youth ought to ask questions absorbing the differences in order to make informed decisions rather than

simply following what they are told.  Through two developing civic proposal themes:

The Power of Choice: Building Resilient Youth, Families & Communities
Expanding Opportunity. Strengthening Communities Transforming Systems.

From Option to Priority: Puerto Rican History, Belonging & Collective Advocacy = Civic Power,

I hope to help young people connect history, identity, civic responsibility, collective advocacy, the significance

and responsibilities of representation to the decisions that will shape their lives.

 

I BELIEVE -  Accepting people for who they are, even when who they are changes, is the right thing to do, for

THEM and Much as it is fofr us.  We do not have to share the same beliefs, capacities, choices, experiences, or

perspectives to respect and value one another.

NO ONE HAS TO BE WRONG FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO BE RIGHT.  Understanding does not require agreement.

Acceptance does not mean abandoning our values.  Nor does Respecting mean accepting harmful behavior.   

We can honor one another's Dignity while maintaining accountability healthy boundaries and Individual

choice.

 

Also I believe We MUST Challenge Negativity, Self-absorption, and Selfishness AT the Expense OF Compassion,

Connection and our Responsibility to one another & ourselves.

 

LetUS BUILD a VILLAGE - Through collaboration & CommUNITY, we can share experiences, knowledge,

opportunities. and resources FreeTHEMinc is about activism, awareness, connection, education, healing, and

preventivetiveness ~ not just one issue or experience ~ People and Life is Diverse as are the Experience with the Intersectionality’s of components of Direct and Indirect Experiences/Exposures to Substance Misuse.  I want

Our Children to have Opportunities, Relationships, Resources, Esteem and Understanding I did not have

growing up.

I want THEM to know they belong, their circumstances do not have to determine their futures and their

voices matter.

The VILLAGE is Needed for OUR CHILDREN to THRIVE & PEOPLE to REBUILD.

 

This is the difference I hope to make ~ the Intentionality behind the purposeful work I continue to believe in

Why We As a People Can Accomplish This and So Much More Together.