RestoreCorps: addressing the inter-related needs of released prisoners and the blighted communities to which they return

 The national challenges of rising prison populations and high recidivism rates have been well-documented.  According to Harvard sociology professor Bruce Western,
“The American penal system has grown continuously for the past thirty-five years.  Spending on corrections now totals $70 billion each year. . . After release, ex-prisoners experience reduced rates of employment, wages and wage growth. . . Two-thirds are rearrested within three years, and one-fourth return to prison during that time.”
“From Prison to Work,” December 2008,
The Hamilton Project, www.brookings.edu

The cost of recidivism to the community is approximately $30,000 per person per year – plus the loss of a productive citizen’s income.  Most ex-offenders face significant challenges to successful re-entry: unhealthy relationships, few marketable skills and felony convictions that make it difficult to secure employment and housing.  Many find the social barriers of life “on the outside” as confining as the iron bars of prison.  The difficulties of finding employment and housing as well as establishing positive relationships contribute significantly to the cycle of repeated incarceration.

The needs of released prisoners reflect – and in many cases stem from – the needs of the communities to which they return.  These communities are characterized by high levels of poverty, unemployment and crime, a fertile breeding ground for recidivism.  Sustainable change in the lives of ex-offenders is inextricably connected to the opportunities, safety and support of a healthy living and working environment.  The debilitating problems of ex-offenders and the economically depressed neighborhoods to which they return are interdependent and call for initiatives that foster the rehabilitation and revitalization of both.

RestoreCorps service program focuses on restoring the lives of formerly incarcerated people as they restore their own communities.  Research has shown that recidivism is less among men and women who give back to society after incarceration. Who better can restore a community than individuals who are restoring their lives by “giving back.”?  RestoreCorps provides a mechanism for this double restoration of both individuals and community.

Restore Corps conforms to the core values of AmeriCorps, but is unusual in a number of ways.  Most AmeriCorps members are students or college graduates who gain valuable skills and experience as they serve in non-profit organizations.  Restore Corps participants are exclusively formerly incarcerated men and women receiving counseling and training in life/work skills for part of each day and devoting the remainder of the day to service in not- for- profit social entrepreneurial business ventures. and non profit organizations that bring greatly needed legal commercial activity to economically depressed communities around the nation. One might think of this as an “urban farming” activity necessary to stop erosive blight and torestore an economically blighted area into a thriving, productive, self-sustaining  community.

RestoreCorps provides a supervised, real-life working experience in which members practice core standards of workplace behavior, responsibility and positive relationships with peers and authority figures.  It is precisely these competencies that formerly incarcerated men and women need to maintain employment, avoid re-incarceration and succeed in life outside prison walls.  In addition to providing “life labs” for participatns, the businesses in which they serve  further the economic progress of the surrounding neighborhood, contribute to the sustainability of the program, and connect economically depressed communities to the broader communities that surround them.

RestoreCorps promotes an emergent sense of restorative justice. The same individuals whose past behavior severely injured the community now are helping to heal the wounds of the past and contribute to a healthy future.

This holistic approach to prisoner reentry meets the specialized needs of ex-offenders as they contribute to the revitalization of struggling communities and build relationships with neighborhood residents. Now more than ever, this nation is in need of unique and innovative   interpretations of the national service model that has inspired AmeriCorps. The widespread need for effective prisoner reentry programs calls for a distinctive national service program – RestoreCorps – designed to serve the overwhelming numbers of formerly incarcerated men and women who want to contribute in a meaningful way to their communities by contributing to the restoration and vitality of the communities which they previously violated.