Los Angeles📍
Reentry Health Advisory Collaborative
• Integrating Lived Experience With Policymaking •
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The RHAC plays a critical role in elevating resources, policies, and programs; addressing key challenges for reentry personnel such as :
Many justice-involved individuals encounter social and health services that fail to address their specific cultural, linguistic, and lived-experience needs, leading to disengagement and poor health outcomes. Expanding access to services that are trauma-informed, culturally competent, and community-driven is essential to improving long-term stability and well-being.
The lack of robust educational and vocational training programs leaves many formerly incarcerated individuals without the skills needed to secure stable employment and reintegrate successfully. Strengthening access to workforce development, apprenticeships, and higher education opportunities can reduce recidivism and promote self-sufficiency.
Justice-involved individuals frequently face discrimination in hiring practices, housing applications, and financial services, limiting their ability to rebuild their lives post-incarceration. Implementing fair-chance hiring policies, reentry-friendly housing programs, and economic empowerment initiatives can help break cycles of poverty and reduce re-offending.
inadequate healthcare access and the lasting effects of incarceration. Expanding preventative care, mental health support, and harm reduction programs tailored to this population is crucial to addressing these disparities and promoting long-term health equity.
Many formerly incarcerated individuals struggle to secure stable housing due to legal restrictions, financial barriers, and rental discrimination, increasing their risk of homelessness. Expanding access to transitional housing, reentry-friendly rental programs, and supportive housing initiatives can provide the stability needed for successful reintegration.
Those directly impacted by the justice system are often excluded from policy discussions and leadership roles that shape reentry programs and criminal justice reforms. Creating pathways for meaningful community engagement, leadership development, and advisory roles ensures that policies are informed by lived experience and truly address systemic inequities.