Summit County Felon Reentry Network

Summit County Reentry Network
This is a collaborative program to assist adult felony ex-offenders with reentry to society and the workforce. Network members are developing resources that will benefit the offender in returning to the community.

United Way of Summit County teamed up with Akron Community Foundation and the County's Executive Office to provide funding to hire a Summit County Reentry Coordinator (SCRN) in September 2010. This office is implementing the SCRN Strategic Plan and service coordination to help ex-offenders become productive citizens.

The Summit County Office of Reentry was a collaborative effort with many city and county officials, police and parole, business and faith community representatives, and Chairs of United Way's Community Impact committees. This program seeks to aid the 1,500 felony offenders who annually return to Summit County to find 404 collateral sanctions and legal penalties that make it difficult for them to be workers, family members, and active community members. One projected outcome of the Office of Reentry is a fifty percent reduction in recidivism rates through an offering of a holistic array of services and resources for adult ex-offenders.

Teresa Tribe Johnson

The program is moving forward with Teresa Tribe Johnson appointed as the Summit County Reentry Coordinator. With a Masters in Theology and a Clinical Pastoral Education Residency at The Cleveland Clinic, Johnson was the first full-time female Chaplain at Kingston General Hospital in Kingston, Ontario. She then moved to non-profit work which brought her here to Summit County, where she worked with Oriana House, Inc., and the Felony Drug Court Program as an Employment Specialist. Teresa believes that "providing a variety of essential support not only helps ex-offenders and their families to re-unite and heal, but makes our community a much safer place to live."

She is working out of the Justice Affairs' Division of Public Safety, but is officially employed by Oriana House. Her role at the Office of Reentry includes program oversight to ensure consistency with the Summit County Reentry Network's goals, objectives, and compliance with grant requests; facilitating communication between all participating organizations, Summit County Reentry Network Subcommittees and individuals; and providing ex-offenders with a point-of-contact and assistance.

For information about this program, or if you would like to get involved on any of the steering committees, please contact Teresa Tribe Johnson by phone at 330.643.2558 or email ttribejohnson@summitoh.net or reentry@summitoh.net.

FEBRUARY 2011
The Summit County Reentry Network held a meeting in early February 2011 with over 80 people in attendance representing over 50 local organizations collaborating to reduce recidivism rates of felony offenders.

At the meeting it was presented that over 70 agencies have contacted the Office of Reentry to collaborate with the network. This represents a vast increase in participation and open communication between providers of reentry services. Data is being collected about the number of provider inquiries, and ex-offender inquiries that come in to the Office of Reentry.

Finding jobs and finding money for transitional housing were raised as two high priority needs for ex-offenders. The majority of ex-offenders are in desperate need of employment. Ralph Sinistro, Manager of The Job Center, reminded members that good employment readiness training is essential to the successful job search. Clients must be well prepared in order to find success in this poor job market. The reentry network providers concur that these issues are on the cutting edge of successful reentry.

This publication is an excellent resource provided by the Akron-Summit County Public Library:
Ex-Offender Job Search Resources "Breaking the Barriers to Employment"

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