Community After Incarceration
“When you ask about successful reentry, the short answer is holistic reentry,” says Phillip Cooper, founder of Operation Gateway. “Not just hyper-focused on getting them a job.”
And that’s the mission of Operation Gateway, to “decrease recidivism by addressing the social determinants of health of returning citizens”. Phillip Cooper and his team support people returning home from prison across Western North Carolina, which means starting before someone is released. They support their members as they navigate housing, healthcare, documentation, transportation and employment.
As East Fork’s quarterly Community Partner, Operation Gateway receives 1% of all sales this quarter. In addition to that, we encourage you to learn more about their powerful work below. And if you’re able, consider donating directly through their website or via the in-cart prompt at checkout.
Since 2018, East Fork has partnered with Operation Gateway and developed a relationship that has pushed us to think more critically about what access really means. Equal Opportunity Employment is often treated as a marker of fairness, but in a country that imprisons more people than any other, hiring practices that ignore the impact of incarceration end up leaving many behind. OG helps build the trust, structure and accountability that fair chance hiring actually requires.
The OG team, most of whom are formerly incarcerated themselves, offers one-on-one support shaped by firsthand experience. They understand the realities of reentry not as theory, but as lived experience. They help people find housing, access medical care, reconnect with family and build the essential skills often taken for granted by folks facing fewer barriers to societal entry (or, in this case, reentry).
Each week, more than 12,000 people are released from prisons in the United States. According to the Institute for Justice Research and Development at Florida State University, “despite significant government investments to reduce recidivism, 77% of formerly incarcerated individuals are re-arrested within five years.” Failed reentry doesn’t just impact individuals, it keeps families in poverty and communities less stable. As the IJRD notes, “reentry is the leverage point where the smallest change yields the greatest impact.”
Operation Gateway is a team of change agents with strong relationships and a clear-eyed view of what is needed by those who have been impacted by American prison systems. This quarter, we’re proud to name OG as our Community Partner and to raise funds in support of their work across the region.
