Reentry Initiatives
URO is dedicated to helping people who have faced or are currently facing incarceration. We work with those impacted by incarceration, governmental policymakers, researchers, nonprofit organizations, and community members to make structural changes.
Housing
Sunflower House
Opened in December 2021, the Sunflower House is an unprecedented collaboration among Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services (INHS), Opportunities, Alternatives and Resources (OAR), and Ultimate Reentry Opportunity (URO) initiative, the Sunflower Houses provide low-barrier, affordable housing for formerly incarcerated and court-involved persons. The Sunflower Houses is a transitional housing program designed to provide wraparound services to people in reentry in order to facilitate their successful reintegration into our community.
Employment
Beyond the Box Employer Certification
Beyond the Box Employer Certification focuses on employer culture shift, outreach and recruitment, hiring, retention, and creating an inclusive workplace environment where all can thrive. The pilot program launched in May 2024 with Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca. The program's effectiveness and impact are being studied by Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, so URO can continue to assess and improve on its initiatives.
Health & Wellness
Jail Garden &
Community Book Read
Our Nutrition Horticulture and Energy working group focused group on the health of people as they exist within the carceral system and ways in which we could improve healthier outcomes as they transitioned back into the community. A Jail Garden, coordinated with the support of the Tompkins County Sheriff and jail staff, will both add nutritional value to the incarcerated raising their own vegetables, as well as the mental health benefits of spending time in nature and the pride and agency of contributing to one's own sustenance.
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In our research for The Sunflower House, we found that 95% of those seeking shelter had a baseline of unaddressed trauma. After hosting a series of trauma panels for the community, we found there lacked a larger understanding of intergenerational trauma and its effects on poverty, crime, homelessness and recidivism. In response, Taili began leading a monthly Community Book Read to engage policy-makers, school administrators, justice system enforcers, and community leaders in an on-going dialogue about trauma, its effects on our community, and the power of healing.
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Safety
Reimagining Public Safety
Due to Taili’s regular interaction with key public safety figures through CJATI (Tompkins County’s Criminal Justice/ Alternatives to Incarceration Board), URO initiated a merged effort to Reimagine Public Safety in the City of Ithaca and Tompkins County. They worked collaboratively in defining a city and county plan that would redesign public safety interventions to include non-police response systems, a community healing plan, and the demilitarization of certain police practices.
We assisted with organizing the focus groups consisting of people with lived experience to collect the data for the Reimagining Public Safety Initiative and we are now on the Tompkins County Community Healing Committee of Reimagining Public Safety and the Unarmed Response Committee for the city of Ithaca of which we were invited to participate in.
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URO's work with the Reimagining Public Safety Initiative in Tompkins County, led to the first (and only!) city & county adopted Public Safety plan in the nation.
How we facilitate change
