REENTRY MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

Adult literacy

County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

Addressing the lack of mentorship for returning citizens. Mentoring reentry people on the do's and don't of reentry & how to be better mentors with more clarity and understanding of the real time & life situations that may arise during their reentry transition is the issue. We aim to create a safe space so they can be truly free of judgement, have a sense of belonging, build a healthy rapport with new a support team & grow their cognitive & communication skills. Too many reentry people fall through the cracks & recidivate due to the lack of adequate mentorship & support. Society has a stigma & misconstrued concept that returning citizens "understand the way present society functions", "know the lingo" or "know what to do in basic predicament, let alone a crisis situation". Returning citizens literally need to be mentored on new ways of life to live after incarceration. This provides a much better vision of how to navigate, keep safe & implement tools that have proven to be successful.

Lessonz Learned mentorship program is designed to effectively mentor reentry people from a simplistic, real time and lived experience perspective. This mentoring concept is the first of its kind and will be implemented to ensure the fostering of a new support team to the participants while we also provide them with the effective tools to utilize and have a successful reentry outcome. The program will showcase the effectiveness of how reentry mentorship is highly effective and how having a cultural awareness model aligns with the entire reentry population that will be serviced. This program will give participants more confidence with their own abilities to reintegrate into society. This Mentorship program will bring more peace and tranquility to the whole county of Los Angeles by providing the participants with effective mentoring and leadership skills along with communication and social skills.

By providing effective mentorship to the reentry population on how to navigate their actions and emotions as we assist them with the help of positive resources; this will give them a better understanding of new triggers, coping mechanisms and the whole reentry transition process. This kind of education builds confidence that will foster a sense of belonging to the community, which will create a more pro-active and safer environment in Los Angeles County as a whole due to reentry people getting their basic needs met and being able to share their experiences with other people in the community.