Help TEDxSoledad Take the Stage in November
Recognizing our shared humanity
Real reform starts with getting close enough to see what's actually happening. Close enough to hear it in someone's own words.
That's the idea behind every TEDx event we bring into a prison: hand a microphone to people the outside world rarely hears from. Let them tell their own story, in their voice, on their own terms.
TEDxSoledad is our next event. Your gift is what gets them there.
On November 10, 2026, a team of incarcerated presenters at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, California, will take the TEDx stage.
We're raising $50,000 to get them to that familiar red circle.
What Your Gift Funds
Your gift brings TEDx events into prisons across the country, events like TEDxSoledad, giving people the opportunity to tell their own stories to audiences—both live and around the world.
Here's what your support could help make possible:
$25
$50
A professional headshot for a speaker
$100
$500
One month of speaker coaching
Printed programs with speaker bios for a TEDx event
$1,250
$5,000
A branded TEDx polo shirt for a speaker
12-month speaker coaching program
Production costs, including lighting, cameras, sound, and editing that bring a speaker's story to life
Months in the Making
Getting a first-time speaker onto a TEDx stage in a prison doesn't happen overnight.
It happens in metal folding chairs.
On lined notebook paper.
With an old dictionary, to help find the right words.
In cramped cells, late at night, working a ballpoint pen through draft after draft.
Despite conditions that often leave incarcerated people isolated, these teams come together — often for a year or longer — in the hopes that people will hear what they have to say. That what they share matters. That their words can help reshape harmful narratives about people behind bars and move people to action — changing the way the world thinks about punishment and potential, for good.
This is what's been happening at Soledad for months, long before a public audience of hundreds shows up to hear them on November 10.
“People from all walks of life have a voice with this platform. It does not matter if you are a doctor, politician, or someone convicted of a felony currently in prison. Anyone who has a positive message to share can do it with TEDx."
–Claude Owens, Jr., TEDxSoledad Organizer
Meet the Team
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Ira Daniels Sr.
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Trevis Hudson
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Ramelle Kamack
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Sanchenglee Misouk
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Joel Moore
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Jose Nieto
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Claude Owens
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Vincent Rivera
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Alfredo Tafoya
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David Turner
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Biji Varghese
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William Mobley
Bigger
Than
One
Stage
TEDxSoledad joins a track record of 19 Proximity for Justice TEDx prison events across ten states. Together, the events have produced more than 450 speaker talks, reached more than 3,800 people in person and 27 million more online. They’ve changed hearts and minds and, in some cases, helped shape the policies that govern incarceration itself.
Be Part of the Day
November 10 is coming. Your gift today helps make sure the team is ready.