Each year, more than 600,000 people are released from state and federal prisons and 7 million from jails across the United States. As they return home, the need for clear, accessible information to support successful reentry has never been greater.
One effective way to provide this information is by creating a reentry guide. These guides include everything from preparing for release, obtaining identification and finding housing, to searching for employment and reconnecting with the community.
Those interested in creating a reentry guide can take advantage of the excellent resources provided by the Education Justice Project (EJP) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which offers exceptional tools and training to help make this work possible.
The EJP operates a college-in-prison program that offers University of Illinois upper-division courses and extracurricular activities at the Danville Correctional Center, a medium-security men’s prison in central Illinois. It also produces an Illinois and a national reentry guide, as well as a guide for people facing the threat of deportation.
Guides grew from EJP’s efforts at the Danville Correctional Center
“Our students got the idea from our prisoners,” says Lee Ragsdale, director of the Reentry Resource Program at the Education Justice Project. “We did the first edition in 2016. We distributed it the best we could, and word got around. People sent letters asking for the guide. In 2020, we started working on the national guide.”
In 2022, the organization received funding to offer a workshop for people who wanted to create reentry guides for their own areas and organizations. EJP launched its first workshop in 2023 with a cohort of five. That cohort included the University of North Texas in Denton, Tex., and House of Mercy, a transitional housing nonprofit based in Washington State. Since its initial cohort, EJP workshop participants have released six guides, and 12 more are currently in progress.
EJP is in the process of putting together its sixth cohort, which will also consist of five member organizations. And this one will deal with people who want to produce a guide for those facing deportation, as well those who wish to create a reentry guide.
The workshop is scheduled to take place online on two Saturdays – Feb. 21 and March 21, 2026. Each participating organization will receive a stipend of $4,000 to help them produce a reentry or deportation guide. They will also receive technical assistance for one year.
How the reentry guide workshop will work
Participants in the workshop will:
- Make a plan for developing their guide
- Learn how to inventory existing reentry resources to determine any gaps that exist
- Start to develop the guide’s content using an EJP template
- Decide what information to include
- Brainstorm how to include people – those who are formerly incarcerated or at threat of deportation – in the process
- Plan the printing and distribution process
- Explore fundraising options
If you’d like to find out more, you can sign up for an information session that will take place tomorrow, Nov 5, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Central Time via Zoom.
If you can’t make the info session, you can still learn about the workshop and apply. The application deadline is Nov. 21.
The process is quite competitive, but those who don’t get chosen will be put on a waiting list.
“We are looking for additional funding to offer additional sessions,” says Ragsdale.
The original funding came from a grant awarded by Ascendium’s Education Philanthropy, as well as from the University of Illinois. The effort is now paid for with university funds.
EJP is looking for specific qualifications
Ragsdale explains what they are looking for in terms of organizations. “We want organizations that can demonstrate they have the capacity and the interest, and are well positioned to do the work,” she says. “We also want to consider the resources that are already out there.”
“We see the value in smaller resource guides focused at particular populations, as well as larger guides. We’re working with an organization in Maine that is creating a reentry guide for women, for example. There are also regional guides that can be useful as well.”
The two-session workshop that members of the cohort attend is only the beginning. Members are required to check in quarterly. And there’s a full cohort check in after six months, so members can share what they’ve experienced so far.
“Also, sometimes we can supply interns from among our students, or we can connect current participants with members of previous cohorts who might be able to help with a particular issue,” says Ragsdale.
Those who aren’t chosen to be part of an upcoming cohort can still take advantage of EJP’s Reentry Guide Creation Resources, which help organizations that want to create a reentry guide be able to do so.
Resources for all organizations:
- A pre-planning worksheet that includes a series of questions that can help organizations determine the various parameters of the project
- A timeline to keep the project on track
- An entire guide template, that organizations can copy as much or as little as they’d like, as long as credit is given
- Videos of a past workshop
- Tutorial videos produced by two former cohort organizations about how they created their guides
Reentry guides are more than just information packets – they are lifelines that can make the difference between successful reintegration and recidivism. By compiling and sharing critical information, organizations can equip people returning from incarceration with the knowledge and tools to rebuild their lives and strengthen their communities.
If you are ready to make a difference, now is the perfect time to start creating a reentry guide for your community or population.
