Project Overview
Third Sector partnered with ProsperOK to design and launch JusticeLink, a free community center for justice-involved Oklahomans who need assistance navigating the criminal-legal system as they reenter their communities. The new center streamlines and simplifies the many services available to people dealing with criminal cases.
Most of us, whether we are White, Black or Brown, believe that everyone should be able to live a full and healthy life, no matter what we may have done in our past. But for too long, we've put up barriers to prevent formerly incarcerated and other justice-involved people from building the thriving, successful lives of their dreams just because of what they look like or where they live.
For years, Tulsa County struggled to reduce recidivism, which contributed to a cycle of incarceration and overcrowded jails in the state. The county releases 16,000 Tulsans from jail every year. 40% of those people released from jail are arrested multiple times within the first year of release
Many of these individuals cannot access care, housing, and work because too many systemic barriers complicate their ability to transition back into their families and communities. As a result, nearly 4. Tulsa County's struggle to break this cycle of incarceration and eliminate the racial disparities within the system has profoundly affected the entire community.
Since 2021, ProsperOK, a subsidiary of the Tulsa Community Foundation, has worked to increase economic opportunities for justice-involved individuals, generate innovations in policy and practice, and transform the criminal-legal system by building power among justice-involved individuals.
In 2022, ProsperOK and Third Sector convened more than 80 key stakeholders (representing county- and state-level public agencies, nonprofit service providers, and community members) to develop a vision for providing coordinated diversion services that would lessen the burden on individuals dealing with complex court cases and supervision requirements and increase their ability to reenter their communities.
Third Sector began by gathering information to better understand Tulsa County's system context and challenges at a deeper level, reviewing literature, and directly engaging 43 individuals with criminal-legal system involvement in one-on-one interviews and focus groups. Third Sector performed this work in a trauma-informed, racially conscious way by fostering collaboration and open dialogue about cultural, historical, and gender issues and acknowledging the wide-reaching impacts of trauma.
ProsperOK and Third Sector designed and launched JusticeLink, a free community resource center for justice-involved Oklahomans who need assistance navigating the criminal-legal system in collaboration with public agencies, nonprofit providers, and system-involved individuals. The new resource streamlines and simplifies the many services available to people navigating legal cases. The lived experiences of the 43 individuals Third Sector engaged became the basis for the vision and operational design of JusticeLink, including its service mix, locations, and culture. Since its successful October 2022 launch, JusticeLink has delivered personalized navigation services to help individuals resolve their court conditions and underlying basic needs—leading to reduced recidivism, increased economic mobility, and higher quality of life.
Diversion and Reentry
| Project Name | Scope | Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Designing a More Equitable and Youth-Centered Contracting Function for the Newly Formed Department of Youth Development | County | CA | Closed |
| Third Sector partnered with The W. Haywood Burns Institute and the LA County Chief Executive Office to establish the county’s Department of Youth Development (DYD). DYD sets more responsive and equitable ways for the county to deploy funding and resources to community-based prevention and support services for youth at risk, currently engaged, or previously involved with the criminal-legal system. | |||
| Supporting Formerly Incarcerated, Homeless Oregonians at High Risk of Recidivating | County | OR | Closed |
| Third Sector supported a Lane County partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development & U.S. Department of Justice in the first Permanent Supportive Housing project in the county to help formerly incarcerated, homeless Oregonians who are at high risk of recidivating. Led by Homes for Good Housing Agency, Sponsors, Inc. and Lane County Parole and Probation, The Way Home will serve 125 Oregonians struggling with homelessness over the next few years. | |||
