Yurok Reentry Program - Planning & Capacity Building

The Yurok Tribe proposes to expand on the efforts of the Yurok Reentry Program. The Yurok Tribe is located in Northern California in the Counties of Humboldt and Del Norte. The Program has already begun the formation of an intergovernmental tribal reentry task force with other local tribes, formerly incarcerated tribal members, local agencies, and community organizations, to collaborate on policy development and evaluation, share resources, and build networks, with support of the BJA and APPA. The proposed Program will expand on this partnership to develop an Innovative Reentry Initiative. Partners that will be involved in the task force include the Karuk Tribal Court, the Hoopa Tribal Court, the Northern California Tribal Courts Coalition, Project Rebound, Root & Rebound, and the Humboldt County Probation Department. Regular meetings will be held to examine ways in which to share resources, expand service areas and capacity, collect data, identify barriers to reentry and build intergovernmental restorative justice systems. The Program will assess Yurok Tribal Member (YTM) needs and develop an action plan. The detailed action plan will address service gaps based on assessment during Phase 1. Upon approval of the Program’s action plan, the Program will hire additional staff as indicated and expand services through remaining grant funds. The Program will provide a preliminary process evaluation demonstrating system improvements based on data collected and policy developed during the first 30 months of the project. Over the first 36 months of the grant period, Dr. Blythe George will collect and analyze data regarding individual YTMs outcomes and services provided to demonstrate effectiveness of the Program’s reentry strategy. A final process evaluation will be done by Dr. George at the close of the grant. Innovative services to address the needs of reentry YTM will begin in Year 2 and will include inpatient treatment services, sober living, and education/vocational services.