About

EJP’s Reentry Guide Initiative connects people impacted by incarceration with resources they need for a healthy transition to life after prison. We provide tools for self-empowerment, including resources related to housing, employment and education. We also provide connections to social justice and advocacy organizations. We recognize that incarceration causes harm and believe that addressing that harm benefits not only the individual but the broader community as well.

As our name suggests, the Reentry Guide Initiative’s primary focus is our reentry guides. But we do much more than that. Our online reentry directory helps connect people to life-saving resources, and we produce videos and short pamphlets about reentry as well. We engage in research and organize events about reentry and deportation.

We are a unit of the Education Justice Project at the University of Illinois.

About Our Reentry Directory

This website’s directory was originally built in collaboration with members of Chi Hack Night, with guidance on the content from formerly-incarcerated people. Special thanks to Patrick Sier for developing the latest version! The directory is an online, searchable version of the directory in our reentry guide, Mapping Your Future. It includes more resources than our reentry guide version.

EJP does not endorse the resources listed here. We also are not able to ensure all the information is accurate and current. We understand some services may not be helpful, but we hope you find those that suit your needs.

There are some predatory services out there. Please be careful! If there are any you would like to report, email us at reentry@educationjustice.net. We welcome feedback on the resources we have included! Your input is appreciated and vital and may determine which services are found on this website.

About Our Reentry Guides

Mapping Your Future and A New Path are produced annually by members of EJP’s Reentry Guide Initiative. Our guides are a natural outgrowth of the work we do at the prison and our concern for the well-being of our students and others like them who must try to make it on the outside upon release. Mapping Your Future, our Illinois reentry guide, was conceived by EJP alumni in 2014. Their idea was to create a free, supportive resource for people getting out of prison. It would bridge gaps within the reentry process not filled by existing systems.

A New Path, our deportation guide, was conceived by RGI Director, Lee Ragsdale, whose husband, an EJP alum, was deported to Mexico after being released. We developed this resource to help people who are facing the trauma of deportation.

Since 2015, we have distributed tens of thousands of guides. In 2022, we distributed over 10,000 guides, mostly to people inside prisons. We receive requests for guides from all over Illinois–and the United States! The map below shows the locations of requests for our guides in 2021.

Locations of reentry guide requests.

Join us!

Would you like to contribute to RGI? We accept applications for members on a rolling basis. We are in need of support researching, writing, coordinating and with outreach and distribution, and more! We especially seek members with a personal connection to incarceration and reentry. The application form provides detailed information about RGI.