It’s been a great year for the Coalition’s reentry planning work:
- We were able to secure 300,000 per year to fund discharge planners for those with a mental illness leaving the state prison system.
- Our small subcommittee in Central Minnesota is working on getting a screener/ discharge planner position created for the Stearns County jail. We’re also taken a new name Community & Corrections Reentry Assistance Collaborative (CCRAC — pronounced “crack”) and grown into a grassroots, county-engaging group. Go team!
The Coalition’s successes in reentry planning has been based on the relationships the Coalition has and is continuing to develop with legislators, people experiencing homelessness, county and state staff, and local providers.
I appreciate the honesty and willingness of many criminal justice officers around the state. They have been and continue to be willing to openly identify their needs, and partner with the Coalition and other providers to help fill those needs.
One of the first things I was asked to do at the Coalition was to understand the issue and figure out who was to blame. It was thought that blaming leads to the responsible party, and points to the solutions. But the funny thing about blame is that it’s so fleeting, and hardly ever ends up settling on any one person or institution.
The beginning of finding solutions comes from an understanding of how things relate to each other. Solutions are earned when all those involved work to make sure the links are strong — through increasing staff capacity, prevention services, and resource development.
The best parts of my job have been in learning how to organize and gaining successes, making messy things understandable and ordered (like trying to understand and explain county and state systems), and working with committed, creative people.
This is my last article for the Coalition, as I’m moving to California for graduate school in September. I am so thankful and appreciative to all of you for your patience, commitment, excitement, and stories.