DEVELOPING, MANAGING, AND EVALUATING INNOVATIVE REENTRY PROJECTS

NYC Justice Corps: The NYC Justice Corps grew out of the set of recommendations the NYC Commission on Economic Opportunity identified to address the needs of the City’s disconnected youth. Based on a national model, the NYC Justice Corps seeks to enhance the capacity of New York City neighborhoods most affected by criminal justice involvement to support the successful reentry of their own young people into the life of the community and the labor market of New York City. In particular, the NYC Justice Corps will engage 275 youth (aged 18 to 24) per year in six months of community benefit project service and internship opportunities. This project is a collaborative effort with the New York City Department of Correction with funding from the NYC Center for Economic Opportunity.

John Jay College is managing the contracting process and will monitor the implementation and management of the NYC Justice Corps. The College is currently in the process of selecting three Conveners to provide direct services to youth in the targeted neighborhoods of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn; Jamaica, Queens; and the South Bronx, and one Intermediary to provide centralized technical assistance and capacity building services to the three Conveners. The College has also released a RFP to contract with an evaluator that will conduct a random assignment evaluation of the NYC Justice Corps. For a description of this exciting initiative, click here.


PROVIDING PRACTITIONERS AND POLICYMAKERS WITH CUTTING EDGE TOOLS AND EXPERTISE

Jail Reentry Collaborative: In partnership with The Urban Institute and the Montgomery County Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and with support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, we formed a Jail Reentry Collaborative, convened a roundtable on jail reentry issues in June 2006, and drafted the monograph, Life after Lockup: Improving Reentry from Jail to the Community and The Jail Administrator’s Toolkit for Reentry.  For a link to roundtable papers and summary of the Roundtable, click here. For a link to The Toolkit and Life After Lockup, click here.

Impact of Long-Term Incarceration: The PRI is spearheading the work of an ad-hoc group of academics, policymakers, and advocates working to expand knowledge related to individuals who serve longer prison sentences. We are working with Professors Todd Clear and Michelle Fine (CUNY Graduate Center) on a qualitative and quantitative research project aimed to better understand the incarceration and reentry experiences of those serving prison sentences of 15 years or more for violent crimes. We held a roundtable on parole reform issues in New York State in November 2006 that included several judges, prison superintendents, advocates, formerly incarcerated people, and policymakers. For recommendations on parole reform in New York State that developed out of this roundtable, click here.

Occasional Series on Reentry Research: The Prisoner Reentry Institute coordinates monthly lectures to facilitate interdisciplinary dialogue between and among practitioners, policymakers and researchers in the New York City metropolitan area. For a list of past and upcoming lectures, including copies of reports and journal articles, biographies, powerpoint presentations, and selected bibliographies, see the Occasional Series Events page.

Reel Reentry Film Series: Beginning in June 2008, the Prisoner Reentry Institute will sponsor a quarterly Reel Reentry film series designed to provide opportunities for members of the field to gather and discuss important reentry issues through the lens of documentaries and feature films. For information about the inaugural event, click here.


PROMOTING EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES FOR CURRENTLY AND FORMERLY INCARCERATED INDIVIDUALS AS A VEHICLE FOR SUCCESSFUL REENTRY AND REINTEGRATION

Reentry Resource Guide on Education Planning: We drafted Back to School: A Guide for Continuing Your Education after Prison, a resource guide for individuals leaving state prison interested in furthering their education upon release (funded by the U.S. Department of Education). The guide is available here.

Reentry Roundtable on Education: In partnership with The Urban Institute, we sponsored a national roundtable on education and reentry on March 31 and April 1, 2008.  The meeting, made possible by funding support from the United States Departments of Education and Justice, the Achelis-Bodman Foundation, and other private funders, focused on the intersections of education, incarceration and reentry.  The two days of discussion explored the need for and current state of correctional education and identified promising programmatic and policy directions.  We examined the broad continuum of education programs – including ABE, GED, vocational, and post-secondary – serving individuals with criminal records in prisons and jails and after release.

In preparation for the Roundtable, we commissioned seven academic papers focused on specific topics related to the intersection of education, incarceration, and reentry.  Final papers and a two-hour DVD of the Roundtable discussion will be available in Fall 2008.  A monograph highlighting the Roundtable findings will also be available by December 2008. To view drafts of the commissioned papers, click here.

The College Initiative, a program to assist formerly incarcerated individuals pursue higher education opportunities, is now housed at Lehman College. For more information about this program, click here.


IDENTIFYING “PULSE POINTS” AND CREATING SYNERGY ACROSS FIELDS AND DISCIPLINES

Entrepreneurship and Reentry: While our nation’s policy makers are starting to comprehend the importance of employment in the reintegration of people with criminal records, little attention is being paid to the opportunity entrepreneurship represents to promote self-determination and empowerment. To explore the viability of entrepreneurship as a reentry strategy, we conducted a year-long project (funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation) culminating in a newly released monograph. Venturing beyond the Gates: Facilitating Successful Reentry with Entrepreneurship includes overviews of the fields of criminal justice, reentry, entrepreneurship, and microenterprise; opportunities represented by bridging these fields; funding opportunities; and profiles of microenterprise programs working with currently and formerly incarcerated individuals. It finds that, for some formerly incarcerated individuals, entrepreneurial training provides an opportunity to capitalize on their talents and skills, become agents of change in their lives and families, and contribute to the vibrancy and health of our communities. To read the monograph, click here.

Social Work and Criminal Justice: In the next year, partnering with the National Association of Social Workers and the Center for Law and Social Policy, we intend to initiate a project bridging the fields of social work and criminal justice. While social workers often interface with currently or formerly incarcerated individuals and their family members, academic curricula and professional development opportunities rarely focus on the particular needs of this population. At the same time, training for criminal justice students and professionals increasingly emphasizes law enforcement as opposed to human services perspectives and techniques. This project aims to develop a set of learning tools to encourage the development of academic courses, field work placements, research projects, conference workshops, and journal articles that address the nexus of social work and reentry.