New York City Reentry Roundtable Advocacy Day 2007

The New York City Reentry Roundtable, an initiative of the Community Service Society, took more than 100 advocates and family members to Albany on Tuesday, May 22, to discuss the Roundtable's legislative proposals affecting the formerly incarcerated as they reenter their communities. The group held 23 meetings with legislators and/or staff on key committees overseeing correctional issues. Assemblyman Jeff Aubrey, chairman of the Committee on Correction, and Assemblyman Darryl Towns, chairman of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus, addressed the group.

Gabriel Torres-Rivera, Director of the CSS Reentry Initiative, and Annette Foy, Program Developer, coordinated Reentry Advocacy Day 2007. It is the continuation of the work initiated in the monthly roundtables that CSS launched in December 2005 to foster greater collaboration between advocates, family members and policy makers. The roundtables feature guest speakers on subjects ranging from employment and access to adequate health care and housing.

The legislative proposals -- concerning employment, health care, housing, family unification, education, and civic participation -- address legal obstacles faced by the formerly incarcerated. The legislative agenda has been formally endorsed by a number of participating organizations, including Exodus Transitional Community, Center for Constitutional Rights, Correctional Association of New York, National H.I.R.E. Network, Fifth Avenue Committee, New York City AIDS Housing Network, National Institute for Latino Policy, Argus Community, Inc., Interfaith Coalition of Advocates for Reentry and Employment (ICARE), The Fortune Society, Prison Families Community Forum, Women's Prison Association, Goodwill Industries of Greater New York, Citizens for Restorative Justice, Citizens Against Recidivism, Inc., Argus Community, Inc. Prison Families Anonymous, Women's Initiative to Stop HIV (WISH-NY), and The Bronx Defenders.

For further information on the New York City Roundtable, contact Gabriel Torres-Rivera at (212) 614-5306 or grivera@cssny.org.

Photos from the event

Other Resources

• Press Release
• CSS Reentry Initiative (PDF)
• Listen to an Audio Clip from WAMC Radio, 1400 AM - Albany (MP3, 3MB)
• Read news clip from the Times Union