Mentorship Program for Reentering Citizens

In which borough should your idea take place? Bronx

Do you have a specific neighborhood(s) in mind?

Which audience(s) does your idea help? Select as many as apply.

Justice impacted individuals

Describe the challenge you want to address:

"When re-entering society after being incarcerated, it can be super difficult to get back on your feet. That combined with all of the systemic barriers makes it almost impossible to avoid being re-arrested (which is why the recidivism rate is ridiculously high).

Whether it is difficulty getting a job or simply re-adjusting to
society after being locked up for 10+ years, formerly incarcerated people are constantly facing different obstacles."

Describe your idea and approach to address the challenge:

"Our idea was to have some sort of mentorship program for currently and formerly incarcerated individuals. The mentors would be individuals with lived experience (i.e. formerly incarcerated people) who could help prepare currently incarcerated for the outside world, and then be a resource/supporter once they are
released.

Because mentors would have already experienced re-entry, they would be able to help mentees navigate the outside world and transition more smoothly post-incarceration. This would also give formerly incarcerated people an employment option/way to make money (which can also address the issue of
employment barriers).

Another aspect of this idea was to implement more trainings/workshops for incarcerated individuals so that they could learn useful skills like coding/how to use technology, etc. We also would like to see more partnerships between NYC universities and the local jails/prisons."

Write the zipcode that best represents your New York City community:

10013