Working Groups

URO is challenging barriers to reentry with a multilateral and wholistic approach. We are directly assisting people in their reentry process, connecting local organizations in a collective impact approach to provide formerly incarcerated people with various resources, and conducting research to identify systemic issues contributing to recidivism and unsuccessful reentry in order to imagine and implement systemic change. This work is split up among various working groups within our organization.

Healthful Transitions

While resources exist, many incarcerated people do not have individualized support to reintegrate in communities due to lack of planning, access to transportation, and transitional assistance. The Healthful Transitions Program starts by preparing participants to engage in a self-assessment process while still incarcerated. At the core of this work is the training of community volunteers from the Inter-faith Based Reentry Friendship Network to provide motivational interviewing, goal setting, and success plan development to lessen the stressors that people in reentry often face as they transition back into the community. In addition, the team assists with transitioning participants to various medical appointments, job readiness workshops, apprenticeship programs and educational opportunities to enhance the health and future prospects of our participants. The Healthful Transitions team began a program of bi-weekly meals throughout the summer of 2021 to check-in with new community members while learning from guest speakers and sharing healthful reentry resources. The URO Healthful Transitions Team works in partnership with local and state organizations to optimize the health of incarcerated people, as a process of humanization and shift toward restorative justice. Healthful Transitions has also partnered with Healthy Food For All to ensure that anyone in reentry, on probation or on parole will have access to a CSA share.

Data Development Team

The Data Development Working Group oversees qualitative and quantitative research to assess barriers to reentry at a micro-level and determine what resources and services are working well for people in reentry while identifying significant gaps that need to be addressed. The group was formed in 2017 as part of a collaborative qualitative research project to identify the most prominent systemic barriers to reentry in Tompkins County. The project engaged formerly incarcerated people, service providers, and governmental actors and was coordinated by a team of researchers and students from Cornell University and Ithaca College, in partnership with the nonprofit Opportunities, Alternatives, and Resources (OAR) and the Tompkins County Criminal Justice Coordinator. This data not only guides the areas that URO prioritizes for systemic change but also adds significant credibility to the recommendations URO makes. The full findings of the study will be distributed in an extensive report and community presentations in Fall 2021. URO’s continued research includes best practices for reinventing community justice, reimagining public safety and policing, and trauma-responsive engagement.

Reentry Housing Task Force

The Reentry Housing Task Force was tasked with implementing and now running The Sunflower Houses, a transitional housing program designed to provide wraparound services to people in reentry in order to facilitate their successful reintegration into our community. An unprecedented collaboration among Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services (INHS), Opportunities, Alternatives and Resources (OAR), and Ultimate Reentry Opportunity (URO) initiative, the Sunflower Houses will undoubtedly reduce recidivism in Tompkins County as well as mitigate the dire need for safe, affordable housing for people in reentry. The goal of the program is to promote independence for parolees and court-involved persons by reducing the stressors to transitioning back from prison or jail. By providing housing stability and supportive services that are conducive to promoting independent living, the Sunflower Houses will reduce the number of individuals released from state prison to the homeless shelter system; offer significant human and financial cost-savings to the county’s public safety, homeless shelter, and social service budgets; and significantly reduce recidivism and racial/ethnic disparities in the jail system. Since the project’s launch, the houses are now fully occupied. The task force continues to meet to discuss the efficacy of the program for participants and ways that it may be improved further, as well as to continue to analyze the broader housing issues challenging people in reentry in Tompkins County beyond just those served by The Sunflower Houses. The task force is holding monthly Housing Summits to bring together community stakeholders to research and strategize to find solutions to improve housing conditions.

Beyond the Box Working Group

The Beyond the Box Employment Working Group is centered on providing a more effective transitional employment system for incarcerated people that bridges the gap between employers and individuals reentering into society. This approach was developed in response to research on the negative impacts of Ban the Box laws that prevent employers from asking about criminal records during the application process (read more here). Beyond the Box seeks to address injustices in employment by directly engaging and supporting incarcerated individuals and employers through a Annual event called the Gino Bush Beyond the Box Reentry Fair. URO has convened a group of community stakeholders to develop a program best suited to Tompkins County. Working group members include representatives from WorkForce NY, Ithaca ReUSE, Alternatives Federal Credit Union, Day Reporting, Criminal Justice Coordinator of TC, Human Rights Office of TC, Cornell University, and Ithaca College. The group is currently working to design an employment certification and to establish a transitional employment case management system that combines resources for marginalized youth and adults.

Nutrition, Horticulture, and Energy Working Group

The Nutrition, Horticulture, and Energy Working Group is rooted in the common goal to support the mind, body, and spirit of incarcerated individuals. Rehabilitating a broken community starts with healthy food, a healthy environment, and a healthy mind. Within Tompkins County, NHE is focusing on projects that connect environmental and food justice with trauma informed work within the carceral system. This includes promoting health optimization, environmental literacy, and an economic foundation for people who are incarcerated, in reentry, and in recovery as a pathway for improved health and healing. Some of these projects include a jail nutrition program recommendation, trauma responsive gardening curriculum, jail greenhouse construction, and building community support networks. Other collaboratives include a partnership with Healthy Food for All working to provide fresh produce to low-income communities in the area and the incorporation of the Roots of Success model, a federally recognized environmental literacy curriculum focused on environmental education and job training for youth and adults.

Advisory Committee

The Advisory Committee is the board of directors that forms the backbone of URO. Following the collective impact model, the board is composed of diverse stakeholders involved in the criminal justice system, including local legislators, city employees, nonprofits, and social justice workers. URO is also working to include formerly incarcerated members in decision-making processes. The committee provides guidance and feedback on URO’s programs and is responsible for maintaining relationships with community organizations and funders.

Under Construction: Trauma Responsive Working Group

Anyone interested in joining this collaborative working group please reach out to us at URO_CTA@cornell.edu!

Working Groups

Healthful Transitions

Members

Data Development Team

Members

Reentry Housing Task Force

Members

Beyond the Box Working Group

Members

Nutrition, Horticulture, and Energy Working Group

Members

Advisory Committee

Members

Under Construction: Trauma Responsive Working Group

Ultimate Reentry Opportunity