Technology Implementation - Offender Reentry

Held as one of three annual meetings. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting was moved to a virtual space. This meeting included an update on CICC projects, a member roundtable, and a discussion/planning session for the GAC meeting to be held in in April 2021.

Held as one of six annual GAC meetings. This virtual meeting focused on information sharing strategies within the criminal justice communities and the development of new policies, strategies, and technology implementation related to justice reform and change.

On April 29, 2021 Vera presented at a Capitol Hill briefing organized by Prison Fellowship in celebration of Second Chance Month. Margaret diZerega, Director of Vera’s Center on Sentencing and Corrections, presented on Opening Doors and shared the new fact sheet of policy recommendations for housing authorities.

On May 11, 2021 Vera presented at the Ohio Housing Authorities Conference. During this two-day virtual summit, Erica Crew, Program Analyst II led a presentation on Opening Doors recommendations for PHAs and admissions policies including the new two-pager. The discussion was followed by small breakout groups led by Vera staff for PHAs interested in learning more about the recommendations. 

On May 11, 2021 Vera presented at the Ohio Housing Authorities Conference. During this two-day virtual summit, Erica Crew, Program Analyst II led a presentation on Opening Doors recommendations for PHAs and admissions policies including the new two-pager. The discussion was followed by small breakout groups led by Vera staff for PHAs interested in learning more about the recommendations. 

In March, Vera was approached by one of the first Opening Doors sites, the Housing Authority of the County of San Diego (HACSD), for resources to provide their Board as they prepared to change their admissions policies, including a reduced lookback period Vera had recommended. In April, Vera submitted a public comment in support of these changes. HACSD anticipates getting the policies approved in summer 2021.

On May 6, Vera met with the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center, responding to a request from the organization for input on their strategy to influence the policies of the Louisiana Housing Corporation. Vera provided context and connections from previous work in New Orleans and previous Opening Doors site, Lafayette, Louisiana. Vera provided the criminal background policy which was implemented in Lafayette during as a result of technical assistance, which the housing action center used as a strategic example to build a stronger case for their conversations with the housing corporation.

Vera participated in Federal Reentry Week hosted by the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). Vera hosted a webinar and panel discussion on April 27 that highlighted the work of Opening Doors Initiative.

On June 14, Vera and Burlington Housing authority (BHA) convened a small gathering of service providers to map out the best process for providers to use when referring people to BHA housing. Stakeholders shared outcomes of other tactics, pathways for referral, and use of the new policies.

On March 17 and April 7, WCHA and Vera held the initial meetings of the family reentry workgroup. Vera worked with the site to develop and co-facilitate two 60-minute Zoom meetings with reentry service providers, resident leaders, homeless services agencies, police, community corrections, and people with justice-involvement. Vera designed these meetings to be an opportunity to hear what needs a reentry program would address in Winnebago County.