Driven by lived experience, Yung Prodigy is a charity-based non-profit focusing on young people (17-25) impacted by parental incarceration.

Yung Prodigy’s mission is to mobilise young people to reclaim the basic human rights that were stolen from them as a result of parental incarceration with an overall vision to liberate them from the impacts of the carceral system. Yung Prodigy acknowledges that lived experience is expertise, meaning that their work is guided by those who have lived through the impacts of parental incarceration and intersecting experiences, rather than solely adhere to those who may work in those systems in a professional capacity.

Yung Prodigy is in its seed phase of development as an organisational body. Through taking a best-practice approach, the organisation aims to develop innovative and effective mechanisms to confront the systemic nature of parental incarceration by diverting away from the current ‘pipeline’ of oppression.

MEET THE TEAM

Maia Onyenachi Ihemeje

Maia Onyenachi Ihemeje’s lineage spans from both rural NSW and Nigeria. She has been influenced by her exposure to the justice, housing and family court system. By trade she is a social scientist and recently established Yung Prodigy, an organisation focused on young people impacted by parental incarceration. Maia believes in the power of wholistic and community-led spaces which are organic, to facilitate reciprocal, long-term solutions and hopes to continue down a path that resonates with these core values.