How, What, and Why
Changing policy is a marker of our progress, but not the end-game.
The reality is that true system change requires culture change. Requires our communities to think and act differently. Requires our lawmakers to approach problems and solutions differently.
This is why, at URO, the work of systemic change begins with relationship-building and ends with shifting the culture.
How
Collective Impact
Collective impact is a network of community members, organizations, and institutions who advance equity by learning together, aligning, and integrating their actions to achieve population and systems level change.
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The five core components for Collective Impact are:
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Common agenda
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Mutually reinforcing activities
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Shared measurement
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Continuous communication
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Backbone support
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URO's work is bringing organizations together, to devise and implement solutions for the entire community.
They are at the heart of Collective Impact in Tompkins County.
What
Reentry Initiatives
Our Data Team's research identified the highest barriers to reentry as:
Housing
Employment
Health & Wellness
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We organized Working Groups to study each issue and strategize solutions. The Working Groups comprised of community members with decision-making power to change policies, as well as those most impacted by incarceration.
From these Working Groups, our top initiatives were born:
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Sunflower Houses
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Beyond the Box Employer
Certification
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Jail Garden
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Reimagining Public Safety
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Why
Systemic Change
Our ultimate goal reaches beyond one policy change or one re-entry initiative. We seek Trauma-Informed decision making in schools, in policing, in courts, and in legislatures.
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Our research and experience shows that direct services in reentry have been operating for as long as jails and prisons have existed. Despite their very best efforts, they have struggled to achieve long-lasting recidivism, to reintegrate the formerly incarcerated back into society.
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We need to focus on the how change is implemented, rather than what is implemented. This is what will allow for long-standing, self-perpetuating, true systems change.
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