When I came home, I was one of the lucky ones — I came home to an amazingly supportive family, a place to live, job skills that I had acquired before my descent into the insanity of addiction, a good education. I had so many more advantages than far too many of my brothers and […]
Read MoreAmplify Austin, our city’s annual community-wide day of online giving, is February 28-March 1, 2019. The 24-hour period provides an easy and fun way for our entire community to give together while helping local nonprofits. The Reentry Roundtable needs your help to make our first Amplify campaign a success! Lend a hand in these three […]
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Three words that describe you? Resilient, intelligent, passionate What are the top challenges that you faced when reentering? The top challenges I faced upon my release were lack of experience with recovery, adequate and affordable housing, guidance for realistic employment options, no immediate means of supporting myself, inner fears, unsupportive family, ill-informed understanding of the […]
Read MorePlease join us in welcoming Laurie Pherigo as the newest Reentry Advocacy Fellow! Laurie brings a wide variety of experiences to this position, both from her past employment and from her life itself. Laurie has worked in the administrative/customer service field most of her adult life in environments ranging from law firms to automotive shops. As […]
Read MoreWe are adjusting the timeline for the next Roundtable Advocacy Fellowship to begin this fall. This is a part-time, contracted position for persons with significant lived experience navigating the criminal justice system and reentering the community. The goals of the Fellowship program are two-fold: To enhance the capacity of the Roundtable to address the challenges […]
Read MoreThe Roundtable is pleased to recognize the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act and National Fair Housing Month by releasing two documents designed to provide instruction to landlords and property managers on how best to comply with fair housing law and guidelines when implementing criminal background screenings for housing applicants. This Guide focuses on […]
Read MoreThe Roundtable is now accepting applications for the Advocacy Fellowship Program. This is a part-time, contracted position for persons with lived experience navigating the criminal justice system and reentering the community. The Roundtable anticipates having two Fellowships in 2018. The goals of the Fellowship program are two-fold: (1) to enhance the capacity of the Roundtable […]
Read MoreWe are thrilled to share the Roundtable’s new strategic plan, adopted by the Planning Council in September after 4 months of hard work. The new strategic plan offers an updated mission and vision for the Roundtable, as well as clarity about the group’s focus on engaging diverse stakeholders impacted by reentry; convening dialogue and critical […]
Read More“Criminalizing mental illness is expensive [and] it is ineffective” Sally Hernandez, Travis County Sheriff People with mental illness are greatly overrepresented among the millions of individuals cycling through our criminal justice system. Travis County is no exception, with the number of jail inmates with mental illness trending steeply upward over the past ten years. […]
Read MoreAccording to the speaker, the United States and the majority of state governments have created a justice system that promotes incarceration to drive profit. Our society has made it profitable for corporations to incarcerate people, with prisoners calculated as growth commodities on corporate balance sheets. Shareholders are fiscally rewarded when private prison populations increase. […]
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