Our Cohorts

Time and space to build belonging and create community.

Kaleidoscope’s cohorts provide the time and space for people to reflect and build community – time and space that we don’t often make for ourselves individually or collectively.

Our cohorts include Bay Area community members and changemakers with diverse professional and lived experiences. Cohort members come with a growth mindset, curiosity, and a willingness to share, listen, and learn… and an appetite, too. All of our members want to contribute to the success of people returning to the Bay Area from prison.

It is our intention to create a warm and welcoming environment at all Kaleidoscope gatherings and for all members to feel respected and cherished.

Currently, Kaleidoscope hosts two cohorts: the Kaleidoscope Leadership Cohort and the Kaleidoscope Community Cohort.

If you are interested in joining a cohort, please drop us a line!

Kaleidoscope Leadership Cohort

The Kaleidoscope Leadership Cohort (KLC) includes experienced and emerging leaders in sectors that impact people returning home from prison (employment, housing, law enforcement, education, health care, and related fields). Leaders across these sectors rarely, if ever, have the opportunity to put aside their roles and responsibilities and connect as human beings. We believe people returning home from prison will be better served if cross-sector leaders have the opportunity to share, listen and learn from each other.

  • “Too often, we have blinders on and focus narrowly on what’s right in front of us. Kaleidoscope connects us to our core issues through a more diverse group of people and perspectives.”

    — CHESA B. —

  • “I came into this group with imposter syndrome… but here I feel like I really belong.”

    — ALLSON P. —

  • “Incarceration is a dark topic, government work is like a machine – it grinds you down. [Kaleidoscope] is so encouraging.”

    — RON B. —

Kaleidoscope Community Cohort

The Kaleidoscope Community Cohort (KCC) includes people returning to the Bay Area from incarceration and other community members. These two groups - neighbors - are often isolated from one another and only know of each other what they see (or read) from a distance. As a result, both often default to harmful social narratives and communities fracture. The KCC provides a warm and welcoming space to build connections that mend these divides and ease the transition for people returning home from prison.

  • "What I loved most about Kaleidoscope was the fact that I never felt judged by anyone. I felt I could trust everyone there and share from my heart."

    — JULIO S. —

  • “I enjoyed the entire experience - meeting new people, exploring and sharing intimate topics, the amazing meals, the love, and the thoughtfulness behind every detail.”

    — TIM K. —

  • "[Kaleidoscope] was so out of the box and such an enjoyable experience. I was so grateful for new connections and the time and space to connect in the ways that we did. Our hosts were so open, and kind, and loving, it was a real gift."

    — AMIKA M. —

  • "The Kaleidoscope experience has allowed me to get in touch with elements of our humanity that I have been missing out on most of my life. The word gratitude only scratches the surface of the appreciation I have for Kaleidoscope."

    — STANFORD C.—

  • "Amazing people and relationships, and such a unique perspective that I'll take with me for the rest of my life." Item

    — SAM H. —