These local nonprofits bring books to incarcerated individuals in North Carolina

In Wisconsin, the Department of Corrections is tailoring their prison education programs to meet the needs of the job market, and it is benefitting former inmates as well as the economy. Milwaukee Area Technical College works to get inmates credentials, which helps them get jobs upon release from prison. The investment pays off. For every dollar spent educating inmates, the government saves $5 in the years after their release.

A pilot program in Connecticut for young offenders matches them with older inmates as mentors who help them confront their pasts and the underlying reasons they’re in prison. They learn new life skills and personal money management as part of a growing trend to use neuroscience to inform incarceration of young adults. The program is based on prisons in Germany and two other states are setting up similar pilots, but no data is yet available on whether the approach reduces recidivism.

Street Outreach Court Detroit is a collaboration between the courts and service providers to waive legal and financial obligations post-conviction if a person makes a commitment to an individualized action plan. These plans can include steps such as substance misuse treatment, enrolling in a workforce readiness program, and accessing housing subsidies.

Clarke County School District in Georgia has 21 public schools that all offer free meals to students, regardless of their financial needs. This is facilitated through a federally-funded program, so even though poverty rates are high in the area, local residents are not footing the bill. While there are still some challenges implementing the program, in general it is received well and allows students to focus on their work and well-being instead of being distracted by hunger.

Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association Canada and Humanity First Canada teamed up to transform a bus into a mobile shelter for the homeless, complete with 20 beds, a kitchenette, a bathroom, internet, and more. The program is called Shelter Bus and, since launching in December 2019, has served over 1,000 people and reaches up to 50 people a day. The bus has been described as "heaven" by some guests, and they are now planning to have 3 buses by the next year.

The Prisoner Correspondence Project connects LGBTQ2S+ people who are incarcerated in the United States and Canada with pen pals who are not incarcerated. The consistent communication helps combat isolation and improve mental health and rehabilitation outcomes.

VisionSpring provides more than two million pairs of glasses each year to those in need. Studies show that, when provided with free reading glasses, workers experience a 33% increase in income as they’re able to see and aren’t forced to leave the working world early as they age.

Cuando en 1992 el albergue municipal de Biar (Alicante) recibió por primera vez un contingente de refugiados procedentes de la guerra de los Balcanes, residentes trabajaron juntos a crear la Asociación de Ayuda para la Población Infantil de Bosnia y Croacia. Con el objetivo de acoger a refugiados, los vecinos ofrecieron sus casas, su dinero y su tiempo para acomodar, educar y reubicar a las familias nuevas.

California is taking a new approach to reducing recidivism, known as The California Model, by providing people who are incarcerated with rehabilitative and educational programming.

To improve voter access for people in jail, the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office hired an election worker to comb through county records and identify incarcerated people who are registered to vote. The staffer then went from pod to pod in the jail to deliver absentee ballot request forms and give others an opportunity to register. In all, 70 people were able to request their absentee ballots.