 Hi everyone and thank you for joining us again for our training series on library services for people who are incarcerated. I'm Jeannie Austin and I'm a jail and reentry services librarian at San Francisco Public Library. And I'm also one of the PIs on our expanding information access for incarcerated people Mellon Foundation funded grant work. Other topics in this training series include public library services for people who are incarcerated. Some examples of prison library services. And we'll have upcoming trainings on a variety of topics including some trainings on legal services for people who are negatively impacted by incarceration. And a training on bringing information about library services for incarcerated people into library and information sciences classrooms. Each of our trainings will be available through San Francisco Public Libraries, jail and re-entry services YouTube channel, as well as through the American Library Association's Learning Management System. If you'd like to receive a certificate for viewing this training, please register through ALA's Learning Management System. And there will be a link for that in the description for this video on YouTube. After you've watched the video you can receive your certificate for free. We'll begin today by hearing from Enrique Rivera, one of our colleagues in this in providing library services for incarcerated people about his own lived experiences as well as some of the services that he's provided that have been informed by his experiences of the process of reentry and the value of library services. Enrique, I'm so excited to hear from you. Hello everybody. My name is Enrique Rivera. My pronouns are he and him. I'm a Mexican American. I'm a loving father and a husband. And I currently work as a library outreach specialist here in Portland, Oregon. And I experienced incarceration. A little bit of context to that you know I had a tumultuous childhood, a lot of movement. I had suffered some severe physical abuse as a young child grew up with poverty, all the things you know I was affected by gang violence and all this. You know led me down the school to prison pipeline. By the age of 17 I was facing charges for my involvement in a shooting, and I was ultimately sentenced to 70 months. Now, I would say I was fortunate enough to be housed in a facility for young offenders that had a lot of educational opportunities. My school completion was mandatory, and they had a distance education program through Chamecadix Community College and a big shout out to them because this is, you know, around the year 2001 ish that I was taking online courses like that was when the internet was barely a thing. So that was great. Anyhow, I served my sentence, I was released. I moved up here to Portland, Oregon. Now I was also fortunate enough to have an uncle who worked in the counseling. He was part of the Department of Community Justice so he knew all the resources in the city. And one of the first resources that he pointed to me was the public library and at this point in my life I had never stepped foot in the public library. I wasn't much of a book guy per se and the institution. I was more into art and music but once I started going to college I did develop a love for for literature. But my purpose to go to that library that it was actually to sign up for classes I had to transfer my credits to the Portland Community College here in Oregon, and I needed to use a computer, and I needed to write a resume. Now these were skills that I didn't really have per se I mean I had a lot of help doing my stuff when I was in the institution, but when I was released it was like you're on your own. So I went to this library. The only identification I had because I needed to have an ID to create a library card was my do see inmate identification, and I would say that the experience was very positive. I didn't feel judged or anything when I presented this ID in fact they said it was a valid ID, and they signed me up for a card, and then they helped me with my resume. They helped me sign up for computer classes, and then you know I handed out that resume, and within a couple of weeks I had a job. After that, you know, since it was such a positive experience, I just kept going back to the library. I had to study to do my homework, all those things. So when I graduated college, you know I've worked a lot of odd jobs, warehouses, you know, a lot of call center stuff because I'm bilingual, I saw a position in the library for a page and I applied for it and I was lucky enough to get the job. I worked that job for many years. I finally worked up to a clerk, and then I was recruited as a library assistant. During that time, I saw that there were opportunities in the library system to work inside correctional settings. Now, I will say that when I was first released, I didn't want to step foot near an institution. I just wanted to do my thing, but the experience of incarceration is also sets you up for a kind of like, lonely feeling when you get out because, you know, even though my experience in incarceration was generally a good one. I mean, I, there was a lot of stuff that went on. Just the fact that when you get out, you know, society has moved on without you, you've been left behind. It's, you know, it's, it's a difficult and lonely feeling. So I decided that I wanted to use my experience to help folks out who are, you know, currently incarcerated and basically pay it forward. So I started providing a library information class at the Columbia River Correctional Institute. I assisted with another library information class in the Inverness County Jail. And that's what I do currently. I mean, that's not all of my work, but it's a big part of my work. I also help people with resumes and job applications and things of that nature. And just recently we set up a legal clinic for folks so they can get their records expunged and that's kind of a big part of the whole process is like once you've been incarcerated, you get out. And now you have this record. What do I do? Well, you know, luckily, I was able to connect with some institutions that provide free legal services to help folks get their records removed. And in fact, one of these services even helped me with my own record. So I'm very grateful for that. Thank you so much for that, Enrique, and for sharing your own experiences and also, you know, just the real emotional lift of what it is to go back inside and to do this work. One of the things that we've realized from our experiences here in San Francisco is, and I hope is encouraging to anyone who's watching this training is that so much of what the library provides is already relevant for people who have recently been released from incarceration. So, things you mentioned, you know, developing a resume, even just having access to reliable technology, having access to people who can provide digital literacy instruction. I'm certain that there are patrons who are coming into public libraries and other types of libraries all across the United States who have been deeply and negatively impacted by incarceration, and people who are in the process of reentry who are already benefiting from the kinds of services that libraries provide. And we're also aware that there are ways to tailor existing programs or to create new programs like the legal clinics you described that can really support people who have recently been released from incarceration. I'm really excited to hear more from Jill Anderson about reentry programs and how to think through effectively providing them. Then I'll return to offer an overview of some of the reentry services and programs that we know are being provided by libraries all across the country. Thanks so much for being with us today. And Jill, I'm excited to hear more. Hello. Thank you very much. What I wanted, I'm Jill, I'm from Queens Public Library. And I wanted to talk a little bit today about some reentry programs, some things that we've been doing for people who are recently released. But I really wanted to grapple with some feedback that I've been getting, which is that reentry programs should not be separate in a library or a nonprofit. Instead, recently released people should be kind of incorporated into just general programs that we are providing. I've been getting that feedback and that pushback from some people, and I really want to do best practices. So I've done some research on that and I've looked into that. And here in this presentation, I'm hoping to start a conversation about what is best practice or what does make sense as far as providing programs for people who reentry programs for people who are recently released. So again, I just want to be clear that I'm talking about at nonprofits and libraries, you might already be offering programs that are help people who are recently released as Jeannie mentioned, as they said we already do a lot of things that help people who are recently released, but maybe you're also thinking about and us at Queens library we were thinking about and have been doing separate programs that specifically focus on people who are recently released. We call these programs reentry programs. I've been, does it make sense to keep those programs separate, or to just roll all those programs up in our general population programs. I'll talk a little bit about me. I am the jail prison reentry and youth justice services assistant director at Queens public library. And this is in our outreach department. I started off as a part time outreach assistant where I would go into the local prison in jail and do some work with our local parole office which is called community supervision in Queens. I then moved to up to a data and information coordinator, where I stepped back a little bit from the day to day work and started to look at, like what our data was telling us, and started thinking about strategy, as far as what we call our correctional team which encompasses jail prison and reentry work. And then I moved up to the reentry manager of the jail prison reentry youth justice services assistant director I shouldn't say but I say manager because what I do is a lot of management so now I manage my team. I manage the people who are going in and doing that on the ground work. I still do a little bit of the on the ground work a couple times a year. I'm able to go in into Rikers or Queensboro that's our local jail and prison to provide the actual services, and I still work with like answer phone calls for people who are recently released and are seeking our services. A little bit also about me in my background I have also worked for Omaha Public Library and I worked for Kansas City Public Library. I've been a librarian off and on since I was about 16 years, and not all public library work. I worked for a academic library and for Hallmark cards for their corporate library, but I love public librarianship. And I did do some reentry work for Omaha Public Library so I have a little bit of experience or opinions from doing work for Omaha Public Library as well. I've been working in outreach and in correctional outreach specifically for about five years. And I'll talk some about some of the programs that we do here at Queens Public Library. And, and these are all programs that I've been pretty involved with. We have our ideas this program. That is where we help people who are recent recently released or otherwise impacted by the criminal justice system maybe they had a family member or a loved one, who was incarcerated. And sometimes those people get an ID. Ideally they end up with a state ID, but sometimes maybe they're just not able to get that ID. New York City has a municipal ID system that we can use as well. And sometimes we have to help them get birth certificate or social security cards in that process. Sometimes it turns into more of an immigration issue and we do refer them out to immigration nonprofits. The program doesn't take a lot of funds but it does take a fair amount of staff time because you are literally dealing with government bureaucracy. DMV's vital records offices that type of thing. We have our reentry tech programs. One of those programs are running is called digital connect where we provide provide phones and five months of data, along with technology workshops, and staff help to people on parole. This program is about providing access to technology and providing assistance with technology and providing the context so that they're able to use that technology fully. It's difficult to care about what you know how to format your resume on your phone. If you don't know where you're going to sleep that night. So remembering meeting our participants where they're at and remembering the context around their whole life instead of just thinking that they'll be able to show up for our technology classes. Right item but she told them ready to go. We also my team also provides library services inside our local jail. Those look like just we have a rolling cart, and we check out books and magazines. We do that twice a week in one large facility, a couple different buildings a couple different housing units within that facility. Within that we also will provide reference assistance, and sometimes we're able to provide programs in the facility, providing one off programs can be a little more complicated than just our scheduled routine library service, but we do try to provide that when we can. Some examples of programs we've provided in the past improv programs, we did a stepping program that was cool stepping is that dance that a lot of black sororities and fraternities do for people who don't know or maybe from people who aren't from American culture. Another thing that we provided inside the jail was we would use their tablets to provide what we called library hub. And this was a service where we could check out, we could mail books to people, and we could answer reference questions via the tablet. And we use that especially during coven. That was actually put together by a former colleague of mine who worked really hard to get some sort of service to people in jail when we couldn't go in there physically. We don't really do that anymore for two reasons one it's just too much work. When we can be going in person. We don't want to have all of our programs just be via a tablet, having in person programs is important, and three, they've moved to having tablets that are for profit and we have a lot of concerns. We want to make sure no one's making any money off of our programming and so we have concerns around that as well. The program that we provide is at our local prison and that we call see you on the outside. The idea of that is, we work with people while they're inside the prison, and then once they get out of the prison and are released back into the neighborhood, we're able to have a relationship with them and continue with that relationship. So our programs are services in that program really focus on resume workshops and vocational training, especially construction training OSHA 30 OSHA 30 hours is a training construction training. It's just without barriers reentry series. And this is something we put on once or twice a year, where we invite people, or sometimes if we have the funding we are able to pay presenters to talk about things that might be of interest to someone who's recently released. So, public housing is a big one that we bring back. Working within certain fields, like security guard, working within the security guard field. Another big one is entrepreneurship, starting your own business maintaining your own business, making money off of your own work or products. We also provide one on one help we're actually our main branch is located near the community supervision office. And so we get a lot of people, a lot of pro officers will just send their people to us. And if we're available, we sit down with them, answer questions. The questions are all over the map. Housing assistance, food assistance, ID is a big one that's why we started ID assist. Technology assistance is a big one children's programs, which you know the library probably already already offers but you know how what things can I do with my family. That's a big one. And then we do work directly with our local parole office our local community supervision office. We go there about once a week, and just sit at a table. And if people are there they can come in and talk at the table and ask us questions while they're actually at parole and don't even have to come all the way down to the library. We also provide different one off programs. Like when parole holds their family day will attend the family day. We're hosting a job and resource fair that parole wanted that's parole is bringing like tabling partners in and we're hosting it and helping with the flyers and having it in our space. So those are the some of the current programs that we currently provide that are focused on the reentry population and in fact, like with ID assist even limited to people who've been impacted by the criminal legal system. I have recently been getting in the past couple months been getting some pushback about providing programs, like the ones I just mentioned specifically to formally incarcerated or recently released people. Now, in general, funders library employees reentering patrons, other stakeholders community members, all have differing views on how best to provide library services and other supportive services to recently released people. Now, that's of course true in any organization and that makes sense and in fact that's a good thing to have that kind of diversity of thought. Recently the past couple months, I've been hearing a theme, especially from some funders and from people who work within the library's foundation which is the library's fundraising arm. And that pushback is why are we focusing, why are we doing programs that are open only to people who are reentering. And why do we need to have separate programs for recently released people who are reentering. Why can't we just roll those programs up into our general programs that we provide. So, as an example, I mentioned before that we provide tech classes specifically for people who are recently released, and I'm getting questions. Why don't we have those tech class, why don't we have those people just attend our general tech classes. Another question that comes up is this question of well, alright so fine we need separate reentry programs. When does reentry and when can they be transitioned into our general programs. That's another question that I've been getting, you know, does it end after two months, does it end after six months does it in five years down the line does it never end. There's also been some related discussion about like when I get this pushback from these groups, sometimes a theme that will come up is, well we don't want people to reenter, we want them to reintegrate. And so how can we have them reintegrated for keeping them separate in separate programs and in separate services and having separate staff to work with them. That's not reintegration. Also just this is kind of a tangential aside, but I do also just get some pushback about the very term reentry. You know what, what are they reentering to did they ever leave something. You know it's not like we can say they're reentering to the community because in some senses they've always been in the community. So, I just wanted to flag that as well for people that I do get some pushback on that very term. So when I was approached by this, and especially when it kept coming up, I thought well maybe there's something to that. Maybe I'm just holding on to having separate reentry programs because that's what I do and that's what I've done for the last five years. But maybe we should be reintegrating everyone into just our general programs and services and not even bringing up reentry focuses or anything like that. So I thought well I'll go to what the research says I want to do the best practices I'll go out there and I can see what the research says. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any research on this exact topic. This topic of separating reentry programs from general programs. There's a lot of research on providing reentry programs and what makes a good reentry program. But there's nothing that looks specifically at, is it better to just incorporate people who are reentering into any general program services nonprofit resources that you're already providing. So, one thing if anyone does know of any research out there, I have asked around to at different conferences and professional events but if you know of any, please let me know. Send me some stuff. Maybe you've been doing that research yourself. Please let me let me know so I can make sure I'm incorporating it into my decision making and strategies. I wasn't really able as I mentioned not able to find much research or any. I was able to find one study that I thought was somewhat relevant. And it said that the most successful reentry programs that though were those that provided at least one year of intensive support. That's not quite relevant, but I did think it provided some context or provided some insight as to what kind of programs we should be providing and if it needs to be intensive. It needs to be for a year that can at least be a starting point for what programs would really be helpful for reentry people. As I mentioned there is quite a bit of research out there about providing reentry programs in general. So I thought I would just go through some of the things that might be relevant in your own discussion about well should we have reentry program separate or incorporated. I thought I just go through some of that research. Research repeats against me again and again to place people in a social in their social context in my library we use the term meeting people where they are. So thinking about what their current reality looks like what their background was and taking that into account and not forcing rigid rules or rigid program requirements. Incarcerated people are different. Demographically, that's reality. That's because of systemic issues. And that's a broader context than this webinar, but the reality is that people who are incarcerated are different demographically. An example I have here on the screen is the incarceration rate is less than 1% of the general population, but 50 times higher for 20 to 40 year old African American men who have no education beyond high school. So incarcerated people as kind of summed up by this. This one statistic more likely to be black, more likely to have not have a education beyond high school. Another thing to think about when you're crafting your programs and when you're thinking about having a focusing on reentry is that just because of how the demographics of incarcerated people are different than that means of course the demographics of people who are recently released or recently incarcerated will be different. Research says it's incarcerated people are much more likely than the general population to experience violence, both as a victim and as a perpetrator. That is a been kind of putting people into the social context. Research also says that drug use mental illness and trauma are all higher for people who have been incarcerated. You might want to use this information again to craft specific. When you're thinking of programs and services for people who are re entering. You might want to craft the programs around this research and knowing these things, if it's, if that's helpful for you in your situation once you're trying to provide. So one study found that two thirds of the individuals with a felony who were returning from state prison had a history of drug addiction and mental illness. So two thirds in this particular study of the people with felonies they were looking at had a history of drug addiction and history of mental illness. I really like this research quote we don't want to just think about demographics. This quote says there's a problem with demographic studies of the re entering population. And I'll read the quote, the characteristics of the prison population were largely reduced to markers of age, race and education. These easily measured variables unwittingly sanitizes the disadvantages of those who were sent to prison. I think this again speaks to looking to social context meeting people where they are, and not just looking at the numbers not just looking at the demographics, and not just looking at the easy data that's out there, but really looking at what they're working with or the people you're trying to create a program or service for as individual people with lots of different things going on. They might have one thing in common and that's have been going to prison, and that thing in common might create a lot of similarities and certain things. But in general they have a lot of differences and they're not just their demographics. Another thing that the research says and that I have personally found in my work and my personal life, actually, is that re entering patrons are probably heavily focused on employment. There's a lot of pressure to be employed as a society there's a lot of pressure to be employed, people's families put a lot of pressure their parole officers put a lot of pressure, they put a lot of pressure, and people want to be employed. They feel like it gives them purpose. And so that's again something to keep in mind the research indicates that there's a heavy focus on employment. However, there might be a heavy focus on being employed, but the employment prospects can be bleak. In the 2015 study down here, the median annual income for the first year after release was $6,428 with half of the participants who were previously incarcerated unemployed after one year of looking for employment. Of course, as you can imagine a lack of employment spills over into housing instability. It can be difficult to have stable housing when you don't have employment. So that's some of the research that might. To me that gives me context and tells me well if this population is different enough if the research is saying this population does have some differences, then that makes sense to have those differences reflected in what we're offering to the population. I do have then my own opinions, and I have some other people's opinions or other takes, and that's here on this line. In my work. In my work. I have seen programs and services that are intended only for reentering people and that focus on reentering people. I have seen those programs to be very successful. It seems to me that when we're working with people who are recently released. They have more needs and it takes more staff time. And as I was saying it does make sense to me for reentry programs that are focused specifically on reentering people to that it's successful when they're separate. One of those things is it's in my experience, people who are reentering the recently released and they're using our programs and services, they seem to need more staff time per participant. There might be a lot of reasons for that. But my experience has been simply, it's more intensive staff time. I'm crafting programs for people who are reentering I keep that in mind and I stack them differently. This doesn't make sense to me because reentry, especially the first weeks and months is very intense, and it's very volatile. You've got role officers telling you what to do you've got your family that you're trying to make new or the same old connections with you're looking for employment you're looking for housing I mean. It's everything that could be upended in your life has been and trying to deal with all that. Also, people who have been incarcerated by definition, we're used to living in a more regimented environment, more regimented than what the general environment is. And so it makes sense that they might have some differences they might need to use staff time a little differently. Because just by definition, their, their recent past has been different than a lot of the other people we work with. I did also take an informal informal poll of anyone who works within Queens library correctional and outreach or also when I was just meeting with people who do this work outside of Queens library. And everyone that I spoke with said they all universally supported separate, meaning not incorporated reentry programs and services. That could be because that's what we've been doing, but it could also be because that's what our experience is telling us is appropriate. I also just want to throw this opinion out there, just so you know. Sometimes I do get complaints from people who are recently released saying they don't really want to be in a room or in a program that is focused also on recently released people. And Rike kind of alluded to this that sometimes when you're out you want to be done with it and over and not thinking about it and not grouped up in that. I don't get that complaint all that often, but it does come up sometimes and we do try to accommodate that. On the other hand, some time, some of those pushback and some of those opinions that I've been getting I wanted to air those as well because maybe those will resonate with you and your program. But on one, some people have said well if we treat reentry people the same then it will make them feel the same and it kind of goes back to that reintegration theory. Another thing that I've gotten pushback is about that everyone at the library should be getting the same benefits programs and services and we shouldn't be providing special things to the recently released. I think, for me, I'm usually I'm always able to easily push back on that because there's always a reason why I am providing this specific service, whether it be to the recently released, or to people who don't speak English very well or to people who are young or pregnant mothers, you know whatever all of our, we have different demographics and they have different needs and wants and usually that almost always that's why we're creating programs to meet those needs and wants. Again that might come up for you and it might be something for you to think about. There is some research out there that shows that an internal narrative can be very important for a formerly incarcerated persons own journey forward through life after incarceration. And that research, some research shows that if you have a narrative around a very deliberate purposeful transformation outside of incarceration, that can be helpful and effective for that person. And so what that means is maybe you don't want to be feeding into this narrative that this person is always tied to the correctional process, they're always reentry. So something to think about when you're promoting your programs or when you're crafting your programs is the research, some research does show that having a transformative narrative can be very helpful for people who are formerly incarcerated. I'm trying to do further research on this I'm still looking I want to follow the best practices and so if anything comes up or if there's anything out there I'm still looking and as I mentioned before if you know of something please share. There might be other related research that might shed some light like maybe I've looked into this and couldn't really find anything but I didn't look into it as strongly as the research around formerly incarcerated. And maybe there's some research around providing specific library services to older adults, or to recent immigrants. And if there's research around that maybe that can apply to this question as well. I'm also currently doing research on a similar topic and that is what is what is successful integration. So that research are context and differences, again, putting people inside a social context, but remembering differences. I'm also looking into what are definitions of successful reintegration best practices for getting to successful reintegration and then how specifically what a library, a public library especially fit into that. So there are references that I've used for this PowerPoint. And so I, I took liberally from these different sources. And also I really wanted to say thank you to the advisory committee for notes on this presentation to Kim McNeil Capers and Mike Riley at Queens Public Library for doing this work with me. And to Neely Ness at San Francisco Public Library for doing this work with me previously at Queens Library and at San Francisco currently, and then everyone at the jail and reentry services and Mellon for this opportunity. Thank you. Well, thank you so much for that incredible reflection on the need for services that are really designed to support people who are in the process of reentry, as well as your thoughtful consideration about how we can and examples of how we can create library services. I really, really appreciate it. I'm going to give an overview of some of the different reentry services that and director indirect services that public libraries are providing in the next few slides. But I also want to say, as I begin this presentation that while I'm focused on public libraries there are opportunities for many, many types of libraries to provide reentry support, as well as some very specific considerations. And especially if you are interested in providing reentry services through an academic library. I encourage you to go back to Rebecca bots presentation in the academic libraries training in this series. So, one of the first steps when thinking about reentry services which Jill touched on a little bit are just thinking about how we can reduce possible barriers to accessing library services for people who have recently experienced incarceration. And a lot of these barriers might just be related to the difficulty in obtaining a legal identification post incarceration. If people have lost their cards or if it's been misplaced while they've been incarcerated. There's a lot of process to getting ID. So if there are ways for the library system to support people in getting a local or state ID. That's really the ideal scenario, but we know that's not always the case. So one of the ways that library services or libraries have worked around this issue is by reducing the requirements for people to obtain library cards. So if people can use their state issue or local issue ID, just a prisoner jail identification to get their library cards and if that's part of the library policy, then that makes it much easier for people who do have that identification but might not have other legal identification to get a library card. And some other examples which I'll show you in just a minute include creating book and resource list that are specifically about incarceration and the experiences of incarceration and also for family members of people who are or have been incarcerated during outreach. And as I provide this overview, I really encourage viewers to think about the language that they use around incarceration and reentry. Jill touched on some of the terminology. Some people say recently returned citizens or returning citizens. Some people say formerly incarcerated, but whatever language you're using. We really need to respect the people whose experiences. We're discussing and not not to create, you know, program descriptions or utilize images that might be feel really alienating or traumatizing for people who have been incarcerated. Here's an example from Seattle Public Library illustrating one of their resource book list for kids and families of people who have been impacted by incarceration. The Seattle Public Library website also features some resources for people who are formerly incarcerated, including resources that are available at the library that are highlighted in this how we can help you section, including things like finding employment, applying for jobs with conviction history. Some basic digital literacy building and adult education, one on one tutoring. They also highlight different resources that are available throughout the community, including crisis support and prevention alternatives to violence programs materials for children and families, and a number of organizations that exist to support people who are in the process of reentry. Some libraries have actually created very comprehensive reentry resource guides when these aren't being created by other organizations or groups in their area. One great example of this is Nordic Public Library's connections guide, which is published every year, and it has its 400 pages long features artwork by incarcerated people and covers a variety of topics from those basic to reentry to health in the middle of the pandemic and more other libraries have built very specific community resources, resource guides for people who are returning to the area that the library serves. So this example from Queens Public Library is a very local guide, and it highlights that the library is aware that library patrons in the area may might have recently experienced incarceration. So we are thinking about library programs that are either designed specifically for people who are in the process of reentry, or maybe could be modified to better include people who have been recently formerly incarcerated. We really have to think about how to meet patrons where they are. And I'm just going to give a couple of examples of some ways to do that and then some other programs. So some of the programs that libraries have provided all across the country. Inside of facilities include things like how to create a resume, how to do business planning, bringing in authors and other engaging programs. So I had author programs here in San Francisco and part of what's been really great about them is it's an opportunity for people who are also writing, while they're inside to get to make professional connections and be recognized as creative people who are capable of envisioning you know these whole worlds or of narrating their own stories. Some other programming that's happened inside of facilities includes virtual programming. The county library has been able to do some of this by loading their library programs. By sharing their library programs with staff in the Missouri Department of Corrections that then loads the programs into the for profit tablets but makes the library programs free so that people who are incarcerated have access to library programming. So I know libraries also will note and have noted in the reference by mail training that many of them play a key role in reentry planning. This might be from finding housing or beginning to explore employment opportunities to business planning. They're even doing kind of, you know, prep to go before a parole board. So libraries play a really the libraries that provide these services play really an a really integral role in supporting people, even before they're released. There are also many opportunities for outreach and cross institutional partnerships between prison libraries and public libraries. Some people in Washington State prison librarians work with public librarians to ensure that when people are released, they're able to get a library. They'll have a library card already for their local public library. So some people may need to go to state mandated meetings like probation or parole, something we've done in San Francisco in coordination with the digital and print literacy center at the main library, which is called the bridge is to work with parole and required parole meetings for San Francisco now occur at the main library. This means that the library is there to give a warm welcome to people who are either our new or returning library patrons to help people get library cards and to do some basic one on one introduction to what the library offers. So many opportunities to provide outreach to reentry organizations. Some reentry organizations are peer led, they exist of networks of formerly incarcerated people who are really supporting one another in the process of reentry, and especially in the kinds of anxiety that doing new and unfamiliar things can cause people to feel. There are also a number of advocacy organizations that make sure that people who are formerly incarcerated can not only be involved with other formerly incarcerated people, but also can be providing advocacy work to support people who are currently incarcerated. And both of these groups and other groups that support formerly incarcerated people maybe by providing direct reentry support or resource guides are possible partners for libraries. Another option for libraries is to identify some transitional housing that people might be required to live in when they've been released, and to do outreach to those transitional housing outreach can look like building small collections, especially for not only but also including children's books or other materials that might be of interest when they're interacting with their family members, or providing on site digital literacy support and programming. So, one of the ways that libraries can bring information about reentry into some of their existing programs think job development or business or digital literacy is to incorporate information about incarceration and its effects into those programs with the assumption that there may be someone in the room who is experiencing that this takes the responsibility off of formerly incarcerated people to self identify and also raises awareness among the general public that maybe hasn't been, if they haven't been negatively impacted by incarceration of how incarceration really saturates our culture in the United States and the kinds of impacts that it has on people and their experiences. So, for example, in a job or resume prep class, the person who's running a program could mention that there are tips on how to address having spent time incarcerated, or people's rights to withhold information about their conviction histories and anti discrimination protections. If you're doing this if you're bringing information about incarceration into your existing programs. I really encourage you to be available to discuss further outside of the program setting, or to create and share resource lists to provide more support for people who have been impacted by incarceration. So just to be aware of how the anxiety of doing something new or unfamiliar as I mentioned, that can really be a limitation or a barrier for program participants, and many things feel new and unfamiliar after any period of incarceration but especially for our patrons who may have been incarcerated for a decade or decades of their lives. And just bringing that general awareness and approaching the topic in a way that is respectful and calm, can really help to reduce some of that anxiety. For technology programs and digital literacy programs, we know that technology changes at an incredibly rapid clip. And for people who have been incarcerated even for a year, there may be a whole new set of technologies or modes of behavior through like, I don't know, emojis that are totally unfamiliar to them and that they'll face, you know, that will be very difficult to just learn by encountering them. And so for technology programs, it's really important to have someone on hand who's able to work one on one with participants, especially when people are unfamiliar with technology, and I'll say a little bit more about this in a moment. So libraries have so many amazing programs. And it's really important when we're talking about this, especially with larger library systems if this is the case that staff know about the programs that are happening, either specifically for incarcerated people or existing programs, and that these programs are getting promoted throughout library systems just to make sure that all of our patrons who might like to attend them or might benefit from attending them know that they exist. So this is an example of one of San Francisco public libraries resources to support existing programs around employment, and it's a web page that's linked to some of our employment programs that's created by business librarians here that shows employers and other resources and training and employment services. If you're unfamiliar with the term second chance employers are people who and businesses who are committed to employing people, even when they might have a record, a conviction history on their record. So very, very important information. New programs will require some specific resources and train staff, especially when I say new programs here I'm talking about new programs that are focused on supporting people who have recently experienced incarceration, or might be building skills that were impacted by their time inside. I really encourage any of you who are thinking of doing this to reach out to community groups, as you consider designing new programs. I will say there is a considerable need to build trust with community groups by making sure that staff are aware that we serve all of our patrons including patrons who have been negatively impacted by incarceration, and that extends to their families and their communities that, and we can do this by building staff awareness by providing consistent services by being professional, and by being kind. You may need to reach out to government agencies, community supervision like probation, or parole or similar agencies in order to promote the new programs, or to onboard people into new programs who might be interested in them. This requires an understanding of chains of command of how to respectfully approach people who are employed as parole or probation officers, and how to be a clear and consistent and patient communicator with people who often have maximum caseloads. This also require a lot of determination, a lot of continued follow up, a lot of note taking and emailing. But you need administration by in, you need agent by in, in order for some of these programs and services to be successful. It's not necessary to have probation or parole involved in any programs. But it is a place where new programs that are being developed to support people in the process of reentry can be promoted because we know that people have to be there. You might want to conduct outreach regularly to sites where people are located as I mentioned like transitional housing or probation or parole offices or bringing any required parole meetings if it's possible into the library as we've done here. That's what some other libraries have done. When doing this, just be sure to communicate that the library supports recognizes people who are in transitional housing or who have to go to probation or parole offices as whole people with myriad interest right. So we might be creating new programs to support people in reentry. We also have a host of other library programs that are interesting and relevant for all people, including people who are in the, who are recently released or who have been impacted by incarceration. And when possible, and often necessary, I encourage you to consider how there can be dedicated funding to ensure that technology is available for people who are in the process of reentry. And that there are staff who can provide a dedicated touch point for people who are being supported through any new programs that you're developing. If you're interested in some resources that were created by librarians across California through the ready access project, which supports people with sports libraries and developing reentry services. I'd like to just highlight a few of their resources that are related to developing partnerships with community groups and other organizations. So here is one example of a new program that libraries might consider bringing in just to bring in an expungement clinic. This helps people who have a conviction history on their records to get those removed, which as I said earlier can be a way of reducing the kinds of discrimination and barriers that people might experience post incarceration. And this is a great podcast that gives an overview of some examples of what it is like to run a consistent bi-monthly expungement clinic. Some libraries like the St. Louis County Library have created more holistic resources for people who are negatively impacted by incarceration and the attached systems to it. And this is some information of the tap in center at St. Louis County Library, which assists library patrons and the community in navigating the legal system. Here's another example of a library system. St. Louis County just recognizing the impact of incarceration and ways to support formerly incarcerated people in getting around some of the discrimination that they might face when seeking employment or pursuing education. So I want to focus on digital literacy. This is a great topic when discussing incarceration and the after effects of incarceration. So we know that when people are incarcerated, they have very, very limited access if any to any technology that's equivalent to what people have access to on the outside, including even just basic computer features for the most part, as well as and big highlight on this access to the internet. So, most of us use the internet all of the time to get information, just think back to whatever you've done online today, including this training, and then think of what it would be like consistently day after day to not be able to get access to information to maybe have never been exposed to some of the technologies that now seem very wrote in how you live your life. All of that is to underline that not having access has a really, really big impact on people's process of reentry, and the kinds of anxieties that they feel, especially around technology, which we all use now to navigate the world all of the time. From getting from A to B, you know, with GPS to submitting job applications, we live in a tech saturated and internet saturated environment. So we're going to have a future training actually on digital literacy and some of the issues around it in a future training. But I did want to touch on it here. So this is a really, really great research paper for those of you who are considering developing some kinds of digital literacy programming that specifically for formerly incarcerated people, or bringing more information about how incarceration shapes people's experiences with technology after they're after they've been released from prisons or other carceral facilities and are back among our larger patron base. And some of the special considerations that I'll highlight from this paper, I won't overcap it all are that people feel a lot of anxiety around the kinds of surveillance that they might experience. People are not sure about the parole and probation restrictions that exist for them after when they are under that kind of state supervision. And so things that they might be not, they might not be prone to using social media as a way of getting around like restrictions around being in community with other formerly incarcerated people. But that can also restrict access to those kinds of peer support networks that I mentioned before, and can carry over to kind of hybridized social media sites that people might use for seeking employment, or making professional connections like LinkedIn. There's also an economic impact of incarceration, which is just profound, and it affects the kind of technology that people have access to if they have access to any technology. So, providing digital literacy assistance requires a range of familiarity with various technologies in various states of repair or disrepair. So, you might want to consider, if possible, running a fixic clinic that is for people to just bring in their technology and clean it up that might be wiping hard drives. It might be doing basic wifi setup just to ensure that people actually have technology that is useful and can meet their needs. And I'll highlight here, when I've been looking at reentry. One of the ways that most people are accessing information online is through their cell phone so especially if there are ways to support people in using various everyday apps. Or to support people in transferring files from a computer in the library that they might have used to create their resume to their phone. Those kinds of topics are especially important when we're talking about digital literacy skills and technology support for people who have been incarcerated. But I would argue a better model is to actually provide people with the technology. As Jill and the team at Queen's Public Library have been able to do and McCracken County Public Library as well through grant funds and sometimes with community partners. Making sure that people have access to technology that actually works is a major way to support them in their digital literacy development. This might be printing out Chromebooks from an academic or a public library, or actually providing people with the technology for free if there's grant funding. And again, the technology is not enough accessing the technology is not enough to support people in the process of reentry, having dedicated staff who know how to use the technology and know how to teach people how to use technology is an incredibly important component of creating any kind of digital literacy or online based programming that incorporates the needs and experiences of formerly incarcerated people. I also just I want to leave us here with when we're talking about technology and digital literacy. There is so much room for advocacy within our professional bounds and what we're allowed to do. And I'll just stop here by saying, if you are interested in hearing from incarcerated people about their own advocacy for increased internet access and access to reliable technology. I really, really encourage you to follow San Quentin's news. And if you don't want to over commit or not, if you don't want to commit that much time to reading a newspaper consistently to read this article by Joe Garcia, in which he says the real need for internet access inside and the kinds of damage that is occurring because incarcerated people are not receiving the kinds of information access and technology access that people who aren't incarcerated can receive. They have funds in their own homes, and if not, through our libraries. I hope this brief overview of just some of the work that public libraries are doing has provided useful examples and places to begin. If you're interested in more about any of the programs or resources that I've highlighted in this presentation, I really encourage you to reach out to the individual libraries to learn about what they're doing and how they got it done. If you'd like to reach out to our team, the jail and reentry services department at San Francisco public library for more information, please email us at jail and reentry services at SFPL.org. Thank you so much for watching this training.