The IF Project is a collaboration of currently- and formerly-incarcerated adults, community partners, and law enforcement focused on holistic intervention and the reduction and prevention of incarceration and recidivism. Our work is inspired by and built upon people sharing their personal life experiences around incarceration.

In 2008, Seattle Police Department (SPD) Detective Kim Bogucki traveled to the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW) after becoming partner with Girl Scouts Beyond Bars as part of the SPD Youth Outreach Unit. Kim wanted to explain to the Scouts’ incarcerated mothers why a police officer was meeting with their children. She also wanted to assure the parents that that the police would not disparage them to their daughters. Kim hoped her visit would start to build trust among the parents, children, and the Girl Scouts Beyond Bars organization.

On her initial visit to WCCW, Kim asked the following question:

“If there was something someone could have said or done to change the path that led you here,
what would it have been?”

Little did Kim and Renata know that this simple question would be the start of something great, and The IF Project was born.
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