OPERATION EMPOWER: Building Trust, Instilling Hope, Inspiring Change
If Not You…Who?; If not now…When?; If not This...What?
We have had the opportunity to live through one of the most dynamic periods in our nation’s history. We have had to endure limitations on individual movement, the compulsory use of protective accessories, and mandates of social distancing that have provided everyday citizens a rare opportunity to experience a semblance the legal barriers, social isolation, and personal annoyances that people who have "paid their debt to society" have had to tolerate for years at a time…with no end in sight!
The level of grassroots activism we are witnessing now is reminiscent of the civil rights era which led to major shifts in public opinion, legal precedent, and corporate policy that improved how the disenfranchised citizens were treated in our society. A similar opportunity is before us now. Unfortunately, as was the case in years past, those of us living through these times of unusual economic, social and political turbulence is at a disadvantage to fully appreciate the potential long-term impact of this period in history. It is with this historical perspective that we urge everyone to take some definitive action, individually or as part of a group, to support the efforts of nonprofits, faith-based organizations, and individual activists working hard to improve the criminal justice system as well as the individuals and families directly impacted.
One way you can do that right now is by helping PowerNet to finish the development of the Reentry Information Management System (RIMS). RIMS is a state-of-the-art, user-friendly, community-focused, web-based platform that automates client intake, case management, program administration, data collection, and reporting system that encourages and supports the cooperation, coordination, and collaboration between the criminal justice system, the social service providers and the justice-involved individuals and their families. The current process for managing the information exchange between these interdependent stakeholder groups is outdated, disjointed, inefficient, and not user-friendly. There are serious problems with how important information related to clients being released from incarceration and the community resource that are vital to their success is collected, managed, and reported. This is a significant contributing factor to the social isolation, economic instability, and high recidivism rates these clients and families continue to experience in the United States of America.
The overall purpose of RIMS is to 1) collect pertinent demographic, personal development, and programmatic information about each client (institutional or community-based), 2) connect each client to a service provider that can best meet their individual needs, 3) manage the exchange of information between various service providers, the criminal justice administrators and the families involved, 3) coordinate the sequence and timing of social, human and faith-based services, and 4) provide access to an up-to-date database of community resources including mental health and substance abuse treatment, food, clothing, pantries, transportation, volunteers, employers, landlords, and civic engagement opportunities. It has to be scalable for use in every state, county, city, inner-city or remote rural community that can be identified by zip code, census tract, or political district.
By taking action now, you join a growing segment of our community determined to be part of the solution during this unusual period of change in our society. If we do not take advantage of this opportunity now, we could miss this unique period in history that will not come again during our lifetime. It is in this context that I again pose this question to everyone:
If Not You…Who?; If not now…When?; If not This...What?