While the strategies presented in this report reflect substantial and broad consensus on potentially transformative approaches to successful reentry, we understand that there will be improvements and variations to these ideas that will occur as jurisdictions grapple with the challenges of implementation. Successful reentry requires the thoughtful and strategic collaboration of multiple overlapping systems, working in concert, to help currently and formerly incarcerated individuals achieve their reentry and life goals.
Reentry Ready Project stakeholders urge that the strategies recommended in this report be viewed as a suite to be implemented together; they should not be taken apart and offered a la carte. They emphasize that the ongoing piecemeal approach to supports and services will continue to be inadequate for meeting the myriad needs of currently and formerly incarcerated individuals. They hope that the deep collaboration suggested becomes the new normal for incarceration and reentry systems.
Reentry Ready Project stakeholders remain committed to facilitating the best possible outcomes for the millions of individuals involved in the justice system. We welcome a deep and thoughtful examination of the strategies by leaders and practitioners across multiple systems; and others invested in reentry success such as families and community leaders. We ask that you disseminate this report and these ideas widely, critically review and study of them, and consider how you might adapt or adopt the key ideas in the report through expanded collaborations and other implementation efforts as part of your commitment to effect positive change.
Additionally, Reentry Ready Project stakeholders were clear that in order to see the proposed strategies gain wide appeal and be effective in their utilization, pilot tests must be implemented in a few jurisdictions around the country to provide proof of concept. Pilot tests would not only allow for the demonstration of the successful outcomes that stakeholders anticipate with the prescribed interventions, they would also permit a focused evaluation of the application of the strategies at multiple points along the reentry timeline.
The lessons that would arise from a monitored and facilitated implementation of the approach outlined here in specific jurisdictions would yield untold benefits to national effective reentry as the strategies are increasingly employed. Our hope is that those with the resources to do so aid in the development of such pilots and partner with those involved in the Reentry Ready Project.
Finally, we strongly encourage philanthropies to assemble the intellectual and financial resources to help system reformers successfully make the transition to this new paradigm. And then capture the learnings and measure the impacts so that others can follow their lead and serve and support even more currently and formerly incarcerated individuals. We all have a role to support the millions of individuals and families affected by incarceration and reentry. Consider this report a pathway to new action for both thinkers and doers to contribute to improving outcomes for incarcerated individuals and for our society as a whole.
