Barbara Allan is the Co-Founder and Advisor to Prison Families Alliance (PFA). For more than 50 years, she has provided unwavering support to thousands of individuals, families, and children impacted by incarceration and has been a dedicated advocate for improving the lives of those affected by the criminal legal system. Barbara brings compassion, wisdom, and a deep commitment to ensuring families have access to support, resources, and hope during some of life's most difficult moments. As a co-founder, she has helped shape PFA's vision and continues to provide guidance and leadership that strengthens the organization's mission. Barbara is the heart of PFA.
About Me:
Education & Training
Barbara Allan began this work at a time when families doing time on the outside had almost nowhere to turn — no support groups, no resources, and little acknowledgment that they were affected at all. She helped change that, building one of the earliest support networks in New York for families of the incarcerated and creating the kind of safe, non-judgmental space where people could finally speak honestly about what they were living through. Alongside that work, she has carried families’ concerns to legislators, senate committees, and commissioners, and her writing on the subject has reached audiences well beyond the community she serves, including publication in the Congressional Record. Decades of that persistence produced real change in how families are treated, and she has never stopped believing that they deserve better. Her greatest contribution, though, remains the simplest one: showing up, listening, and reminding thousands of people over the years that they are not alone.
Helping tommorow
