Filling the Gaps: Reducing Recidivism Through Personalized Reentry Advocacy

New York County Defender Services (NYCDS) proposes partnering with the Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice to implement the Filling the Gaps: Reducing Recidivism Through Personalized Reentry Advocacy Project (Personalized Reentry Advocacy Project). The purpose of this project is to create a data-driven continuous reentry support model that maximizes efficiency and closes gaps within the criminal legal system by maintaining continuity of care, increases client engagement and investment in reentry success by incorporating client input and peer support, and creates a replicable model for reducing recidivism in the New York City area. As a public defense office, NYCDS serves exclusively low income, primarily non-white clients who will be the primary beneficiaries of this project. Unlike other reentry models, the Personalized Reentry Advocacy Project will begin prior to a client's sentencing and extend through the client's first year home from prison.

Project activities include hiring two Peer Advocates and one Prison Advocacy Specialist to initiate client support prior to sentencing, maintaining dynamic service provision and client contact throughout their prison sentence based on biannual client needs assessments, and providing intensive reentry support upon release through collaborative care coordination. Expected outcomes include the development of long-standing relationships with clients that effectively engage them in reentry planning; the reduction of recidivism among project participants; and the establishment of a comprehensive model for client care that can be replicated in public defense offices nationwide. Subrecipient activities include developing an innovative client "Strengths and Needs Assessment" that utilizes client input to inform service provision, documenting the project's model in theory and practice, and conducting process and impact project evaluations at the end of the grant.