This research brief from the Urban Institute describes preliminary findings from a study of the experiences of prisoners returning home to areas around Cleveland. Providing a broad range of reentry challenges, authors examine potential factors related to post-release success or failure, which include employment, health challenges, and family and community life.

The Urban Institute and Winston Salem State University surveyed Weed and Seed sites around the country to review the extent to which Weed and Seed sites are engaged in prisoner reentry efforts. This report summarizes the ways that Weed and Seed sites are focusing on prisoner reentry and working with partner organizations to reduce recidivism and create safer, healthier communities.

Ready4Work is a demonstration project through the Department of Labor, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the Ford Foundation to provide services to ex-prisoners. The program is designed to meet the needs of this population, as well as examine the capacity of community- and faith-based organizations to serve the population. Early outcomes show that participants are maintaining employment at high rates and have significantly lower levels of recidivism than the national average.

From the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School, this report highlights reasons to engage incarcerated parents and their children in programs to help support reunification. The authors offer recommendations to help balance addressing criminal behavior of parents and child safety to keep families connected.

This resource from the Urban Institute provides information on how to address prisoner reentry issues through mapping and analysis of neighborhood-level data. Through mapping data, local officials and stakeholders can improve service delivery to this target population.

Authored by Jeanette Hercik, et. al. This project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice. The report documents the wide range of criminal justice-related services provided by larger faith-based organizations (FBOs) in communities across the nation. The primary purpose of the project is to assist the development of a research agenda to determine whether and under what circumstances the faith community can promote public safety via reducing crime and delinquency.

Authored by Chelsea Farley. This issue brief describes the Philadelphia-based Amachi program, which partners faith-based organizations with public agencies and nonprofit service providers to identify children of prisoners and match them with caring adult volunteers.

The U.S. Administration for Children and Families (ACF), with support from the Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network, sponsored the Uniting Incarcerated Parents and their Families workshop on May 21-22, 2002, in Orlando, FL . Participants included representatives from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), corrections staff, and child care staff from the following States: Alabama, Florida, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. The purpose of this 2-day seminar was two fold: to provide participants with an opportunity to understand how TANF agencies and corrections staff can work together to better serve incarcerated parents and to showcase the Kairos Horizon’s faith-based program around parenting, anger management, conflict resolution, basic skills, and job readiness.

The National Practitioners Network for Fathers and Families joined with the Family and Corrections Network in this collaborative effort—the Second North American Conference on Fathers Behind Bars and on the Street. The conference presented an opportunity for practitioners, researchers, policy experts, and advocates who work on behalf of father—both those living in the community and those who are incarcerated in prisons, jails, and detention facilities—to come together to learn from each other in an unique event for this still young field of work. There were many excellent opportunities during the week to expand our own knowledge, gain new skills, and create networks with others who are working with fathers and their families. The program included plenary speeches, panel discussions, workshops, and seminars.

The Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network sponsored this multi-State Roundtable event on November 19-20, 2003. The Roundtable showcased promising practices from around the country and provided an opportunity for participants to think strategically about how to design and implement these programs, as well as the occasion to learn about and discuss “what works” in serving this at-risk population. Participants included representatives from the States of Colorado, Virginia, and Wyoming. Roundtable speakers included State and local government agencies, service providers, practitioners, Federal personnel, and leaders of national  organizations.