Ultimate Re-Entry Opportunity

Project of the Center for Transformative Action | Tompkins County

“Humans Humanizing Humans”

Eliminating systemic barriers to reentry in Tompkins County, NY.

Ultimate Re-Entry Opportunity (URO) is dedicated to helping people who have faced or are currently facing incarceration. Our mission is to eliminate systemic barriers to reentry in Tompkins County using a collective impact model. This means working with those impacted by incarceration, governmental policymakers, researchers, nonprofit organizations, and community members to make structural changes: create safe and affordable housing, improve employment prospects, increase transportation access, and close gaps in health care and other social services. Our organization is based in Ithaca, NY and is a project of the Center for Transformative Action (CTA). CTA is an independent 501(c)3 organization affiliated with Cornell University since 1971. It is located on the original land of the Gayogohó:no’ (Cayuga) Nation.

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COVID-19 Project Spotlight

Watch this video highlighting URO’s partnership with Opportunities, Alternatives, and Resources (OAR) to deliver more than 6,000 meals through the Reentry Food Drive during COVID-19.

“I'm so happy to be bringing together such an awesome collection of inspiring and motivating people to do this necessary work that impacts so many peoples’ lives.”

— Taili Mugambee, Director of URO

The Facts

According to a 2018 report released by the U.S. Department of Justice, from 2005 to 2014, “Five in 6 (83%) state prisoners released in 2005 across 30 states were arrested at least once during the nine years following their release.” (1) The recidivism rate in the US is incredibly high considering the position of the US on the world stage. More importantly, the cycle of incarceration is devastating to individuals and their families on many levels. Factors such as poverty and systemic injustices (like classism, ableism, and racism) trap people in seemingly inescapable mazes of criminalized existences. Many people cycle through recidivism because basic life needs like medical care, safe and affordable housing, mental health and/or substance recovery programs, or having a supportive community are either not being met or are actively criminalized.

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Upcoming Events

Please click on the zoom resgistration link here or scan the heart shaped QR code on the flyer. · Book Read Zoom Registration

On April 20th 2023, URO will begin the facilitation of our Community Book Read of Resmaa Menakem’s My Grandmother’s Hands, which we hope will have a lasting impact on the social and cultural nature of our community. Our organization was established to facilitate systemic change so that our local systems recognize the humanity of people in reentry. One of the most significant factors impacting people’s lives in reentry and for those who have significant interactions with our carceral system is trauma. Childhood neglect, adverse childhood experiences, trauma and generational trauma are substantial factors that unaddressed, can lead to high levels of incarceration. The mission, vision, and goals for this community book read are therefore as follows:

Mission

To facilitate community engagement on the consequences, impact, and the readdressing of generational trauma, racial trauma, early childhood trauma and carceral trauma to develop a communal consensus on how to incorporate meaningful practices that can be implemented in our k-12 education system and criminal justice system that resolve, interrupt and or diminish the long-term impacts of trauma in our community.

Vision

Tompkins County Schools, Justice System and community member behaviors, policies, practices, and protocols reflect a highly evolved conscious awareness of trauma, generational trauma and the antecedents of trauma.

Goals

• Incite a lively and healthy conversation that allows us to develop a consensus of our

understanding of trauma so we can remedy trauma for the vulnerable in our community.

• Foster and promote healing opportunities that go beyond band-aid approaches to

address deregulated bodies, mental health, and addiction

• Create access to multiple modalities of healing for our local education and carceral

Systems

• Mobilize community members to think and act collectively towards solutions to our

challenges around trauma in our education and carceral system

• Impact the reimagining policing initiative by fostering collaboration and facilitating conversations between community and policing that create opportunities to heal and mend relationships.