Re-Entry Community Linkages (RE-LINK)

Rethink & Relink Chicago! will target 250 young individuals aged 18-26 who have been recently released from Cook County Jail in Chicago to assist them in achieving successful community re-entry. We will provide a comprehensive jail re-entry program that incorporates two evidenced based programs: strength based Case Management integrated with motivational interviewing. We are formally partnering with the Heartland Health Alliance which provides multiple services such as housing, job training and medical care to diverse, underserved communities to ensure successful access to care. Multiple community based agencies in Chicago which also provide re-entry services to justice involved individuals have agreed to recruit participants for the Rethink & Relink Chicago! Project. Each participant will complete a series of assessments to identify their key needs and individual strengths. The participants will receive four sessions of motivational interviewing to promote the participants’ commitment to change and to promote their own sense of responsibility related to achieving successful community re-entry. Simultaneously, a Case Manager will create a treatment plan to address the participants’ most pressing needs. The assessments and subsequent services will be gender responsive, strengths-based, trauma-informed and culturally competent. This project also proposes to create a Health and Social Service Network (HSSN) of community based agencies that provide re-entry services within an individualized, strength based case management framework. We will evaluate this program. This important initiative will improve each participant’s linkage to numerous community services, including health care, job training, housing, and education. We will also improve community capacity to identify and meet the complex needs of young, justice involved individuals through trainings and dissemination of project findings.