New Re-Entry Services Grant Funding Applications Now Open!
The City of Austin Equity Office is excited to announce the opening of the first-ever Re-Entry Services Grant fund. A total of $400,000 is available to fund projects centering or primarily serving formerly incarcerated people.
These funds are divided between an ongoing, renewable "Hub" award of $200,000, and several "Spoke" awards of up to $50,000.
The Hub award seeks to fund an organization to serve as a one-stop-shop for the re-entry community. This Hub organization must understand the distinct challenges faced by people recovering from the trauma of incarceration, and be able to provide or connect the re-entry community to the broad suite of services necessary to help them reach stability.
The Spoke awards seek to fund components of that suite of services. These projects may work in or between areas of challenge, such as housing, mental and physical healthcare, transportation, financial assistance, job training, and more. These awards seek to fund new or innovative approaches to these services informed and designed directly by individuals who have achieved or are working toward stability after incarceration.
In particular, the Equity Office seeks organizations with an understanding and critical analysis of the system-wide inequities which prevent people from successfully re-entering. Organizations that can answer the question of "Who is most directly harmed?" and put forth a solution to build beyond the day-to-day care will be prioritized for award.
In this spirit, the Equity Office would also like to acknowledge our shortcomings as the City of Austin. Although we continue to work and make progress developing an equity lens with departments, many of our services and programs are not serving those most harmed.
Although we have a Fair Chance Hiring ordinance and hold job fairs seeking to connect formerly incarcerated people to work, we have not done the critical work of examining if our workforce development, affordable housing, or health services are able to meaningfully serve the re-entry community.
In offering this funding, the City of Ausitn seeks to begin this difficult work with community partners who are rooted in and accountable to the re-entry community.
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