Prison to Peer Support: An Expansion of the Resilience and Recovery Program

Formerly incarcerated individuals face many challenges when returning home to Jackson County. It is one of the counties in Oregon with a higher than average crime rate and recidivism rate. Unlike more populous counties, for those returning to Jackson County there are no reentry-focused programs. Additionally, there are significant barriers to accessing, engaging with, and responding to interventions found to effectively reduce recidivism and increase the chances of safe, successful community reintegration. The proposed project will implement peer-led, holistic reentry services and supports for returning from prison by expanding supports, enhancing innovative pathways for successful reintegration, promoting successful iompletion of community supervision, and encouraging long-term behavior change and recovery. 

Pathfinders of Oregon (DBA the Pathfinder Network) with state (Oregon Department of Corrections) and local (Jackson County Community Justice) partners proposes “Prison to Peer Support: An Expansion of the Recovery and Resilience Project” to expand upon the successes of The Pathfinder Network and Jackson County Community Justice’s current Peer Support programming for those who are on supervision to Jackson County Community Justice and further our commitment to comprehensive, peer-led reentry support. 

The Pathfinder Network will serve 150 incarcerated individuals who are moderate/medium and above risk (per the LS/CMI or WRNA) and returning to community supervision in Jackson County. This program will be staffed by Peer Support Specialists with lived experience trained in the Creating Regulation and Resilience trauma- and resiliency-informed communication model. Over the three-year grant period, participants will receive services and support before release and continue in the community after release. Pre-release services 90-120 days prior to release include reach-ins that incorporate resilience and recovery capital assessment and action planning, with wraparound support including service and resource navigation; gender- and trauma-responsive, cognitive-behavioral interventions, workshops, and support groups; community events, and basic needs assistance and behavioral incentives post-release for at least 90 days. This reentry model supports, enhances, and brings additional interventions and targeted dosage to the existing reentry process. The proposed program will be evaluated using a randomized control trial and process evaluation to determine its effectiveness, conducted by Dr. Christopher Campbell from Portland State University.

Both priority considerations are being sought. The plan to respond to the priority consideration can be found on page 6 of the application. For 1(B) the proposed subawardee is Dr. Christopher Campbell from Portland State University who will complete the evaluation with a total cost of $39,875.