Postponed: How to Help an Incarcerated Individual Create Their Own Successful Reentry

POSTPONED : This class has been postponed at the request of the presenter. A reschedule date is not available currently. Thank you for your support and apologies for the inconvenience. 

The state of Maryland releases about 7400 individuals per year. Every single one of these individuals will have a lasting impact on their community either positively or negatively. Finding strategies that create positive outcomes is critical for reducing future crimes.

SECOND CHANCE MONTH

Returning citizens are often confronted with one pressing re-entry challenge after another, everything from finding a place to live and arranging substance abuse treatment to getting a job. They often find themselves facing the exact same pressures and temptations that landed them in prison in the first place.

A setback in any one of these areas can easily lead to relapse and a return to prison, what public policy analysts call "recidivism," measured by looking at the criminal acts that returning citizens commit in the three years after prison release. The latest statistics in Maryland reveal a 41% recidivism rate.

Reentry” refers to the transition of an incarcerated individual from prison or jail back into the community. Reentry programs in correctional facilities are not created equal, with some institutions committed to preparing individuals for their return home, while others provide little to no reentry services or programs.

As a former educator in the Maryland Criminal Justice system, primarily at the Maryland Correctional Institute for Women, Vanessa Bright realized that prison is our most closed system and we need to do much more at rehabilitation. Preparation for reentry is not beginning soon enough. Vanessa believes that reentry should begin the day after an individual enters the correctional facility to serve a sentence.

With that objective in mind, she created a reentry workbook that focuses on soft skills, which one carries throughout life.

• Soft skills include personal attributes, personality traits, and communication abilities needed for success in life and on the job.
• Soft skills characterize how a person interacts in relationships with others, including communication, time management, problem-solving, and conflict resolution.
• The workbook has modules on financial literacy, goal setting, career readiness, entrepreneurship, and character development. 

It is the goal of this guide to provide individuals with some strategies and resources to prepare for returning home and offer a path to own their success.

The workbook, entitled, Create Your Life Plan Now: Your Road Map to Reentry is available on our website at www.mdrrc.org.

Workbooks will be available to purchase and will be delivered to correctional institutions on your behalf. A portion of the money for the book goes back into Maryland Reentry Resource Center so that they can continue to provide services to individuals when they return home.

About the Presenter Vanessa Bright:

Vanessa is the rare visionary leader who is also good at setting up systems, creating programs, and collaborating with others. She brings two decades of experience reengineering non-profit organizations that serve marginalized populations, including the last several years in which her focus has been on expanding and streamlining programs for returning citizens. In 2019, she started Maryland Reentry Resource Center with a desire to use her experience, resources, and expertise to empower formerly incarcerated individuals to become thriving and productive citizens in the communities to which they return. Her inspiration is focused on upholding human dignity and creating opportunities that help individuals and organizations remove the social and financial barriers to success.

www.mdrrc.org

vanessabright.com

vanessa@mdrrc.org

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