Reentry Mapping Network

The Urban Institute selected six initial partners (Des Moines, Milwaukee, Oakland, Providence, Washington D.C., Winston-Salem, and North Carolina) to be part of an innovative Reentry Mapping Network that aims help mobilize local leaders to effectively identify and address the challenges that incarceration and prisoner reentry pose for their communities.

The Urban Strategies Council's project is focused on helping educate and prepare community stakeholders to face the challenges and seize the opportunities that come with reintegrating parolees into the community. To advance this goal, the Council is working to gather, analyze and disseminate information on the characteristics of parolees and develop and strengthen working relationships with the agencies whose data and information are essential to this kind of inquiry. More specifically, the Council will work to:

1. understand the extent and nature of re-entry in their cities and neighborhoods;
2. hold a series of community workshops to educate citizens and stakeholders on the potential assets to the community that parolees represent;
3. develop strategic plans to address resulting issues and problems; and
4. establish a baseline by which to measure the impact of local efforts to improve the success rate of re-entering parolees.

The Council will analyze ex-prisoners' demographic characteristics (e.g., number released annually, offenses committed, number paroled, pre- and post-incarceration residence(s), recidivism, and parole revocations) as well as the programs and services available to them and map reentry assets, resources, and needs.

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