Building Second Chances Through Reentry

Every year in the United States, more than 400,000 people leave state and federal prison and return to their communities where they face significant barriers to reentry, like the inability to secure gainful employment or pursue education, housing insecurity, and the inability to access health and mental health care. Through the Second Chance Act (SCA) of 2007 and reauthorized under the 2018 First Step Act, organizations can support returning individuals and improve reentry outcomes in communities across the county.

The SCA helps local, state, and federal initiatives build upon important research and helps advance innovative policies and practices in reentry. Below are several ways AIR is supporting the field of reentry and ensuring that all individuals have an opportunity at a second chance.

Second Chance Month

Every April marks Second Chance Month, an opportunity to recognize the importance of second chances, why reentry is important for individuals and communities, and amplify what promising work is happening across the country to improve reentry outcomes.

AIR is partnering with The Perspectives Partnership to strengthen workforce pathways, and their continuum of reentry supports for people returning from incarceration. This project integrates research, Flikshop technology, and real-world reentry experiences to examine how coordinated, tech-enabled supports can improve employment readiness and job outcomes. By identifying effective strategies and scalable approaches, the work aims to equip communities, service providers, and systems with practical, evidence-based guidance to support successful reentry and long-term economic stability.

AIR is partnering with Detroit's justice leaders, including community-based organizations and those with justice system experience, to study how people sentenced to life without parole as emerging adults return to society. The study examines systemic gaps and barriers and identifies needs and opportunities in mental health, safe housing, employment, and support services. Our goal is to help Detroit build a stronger reentry system and provide practical guidance for jurisdictions helping people returning to the community after serving extreme sentences.

Youth Reentry Training and Technical Assistance Center

Until 2025, AIR led the Youth Reentry Training and Technical Assistance Center (YRTTAC) in collaboration with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. AIR led technical assistance and customized consulting efforts for over 50 Second Chance Act Reentry grantees. AIR coaches worked directly with grantees during their grant cycles to amplify strategies that would increase the likelihood of positive outcomes for youth reentering their communities after involvement in the youth justice system.

Through YRTTAC, AIR developed peer-to-peer learning activities and delivered events that focused on trauma-informed care, pre-release programming and skill development, post-release aftercare programming, community engagement, positive youth development, recidivism reduction strategies, family engagement, and public safety. Through YRTTAC, AIR developed the youth reentry simulation to provide an impactful experience aimed at informing policy and practice changes that enhance reentry strategies for young people.

National Reentry Resource Center

Operated by AIR from 2019-2023, the National Reentry Resource Center and the Corrections and Community Engagement Technical Assistance Center, both funded by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs' Bureau of Justice Assistance, contributed to Second Chance Month through live learning events, videos, podcasts, and publications that promote strategies that strengthen the reentry field and enhance the work happening in corrections and communities.