Resonance Center for Women, Inc.

PROJECT PURPOSE

This program is an expansion of our work social enterprise project, Take 2 Cafe. Currently Take 2 provides work and housing for women releasing from prison. Take 2 Cafe currently operates a weekday lunch business in downtown Tulsa, as well as an active catering business to a known sector. An expansion of this program would enable us to lease a commercial kitchen, hire a sales/marketing lead to further increase our catered boxed lunch business, and employ and train more at-risk women who are leaving the prison system. Housing and employment are both large barriers for former offenders. In addition to offering safe and sober housing and Resonance mentoring and programming, we will be providing these women desperately needed employment as well as marketable work experience that will enable them to reduce reliance on public assistance and improve their economic mobility. After working in our transitional program, clients are assisted in finding other housing and employment offering a living wage. As this business grows, increased revenue will make the expansion self-supporting and will help provide funds for Resonance programming.

EVIDENCE

If former offenders don't receive reentry assistance, especially in the form of housing and second-chance friendly employment, the chances of returning to prison are greater than 60%. They have no way of obtaining basic life necessities, and it is easy to return to the criminal behaviors that led them to prison. Effective reentry programs and substance abuse treatment help women break the cycle of incarceration as they become sober, employed, and reunited with their families, reducing recidivism (return to prison) by up to 80%. The recidivism rate for Resonance clients (who graduate from our Helping Women Recover addiction treatment and reeentry program while incarcerated) is 3.68%. The expansion of this program would enable us to help more women with our proven methods, interventions and support.

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

Oklahoma has the unfortunate distinction of incarcerating more women per capita than almost any other state. Resonance serves this population, which follows the typical Oklahoma incarceration demographics: 96% unemployed, 72% have an average of 3 children, 75% did not graduation from high school, 100% have addiction issues. This underserved population was severely impacted by the pandemic through second-chance friendly job scarcity, housing shortages, and rising inflation. Resonance increased the economic mobility of this population through effective reentry services, including assisting with housing, employment, basic necessities, and substance abuse treatment. Restoring these women's lives helps restore Oklahoma families and break the cycle of intergenerational incarceration.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

Project success will be measured in monthly growth of our catered boxed lunch business. Client employee success will be measured through employment and salary rates after leaving our program, program completion rate, recidivism (return to prison) rates, and housing rates. Resonance uses a variety of resources including assessment tools, anecdotal information, tracking systems, and client surveys to monitor progress. Pre- and post-testing, drug screens, and one-on-one interviews are used to collect data for analysis. Case managers also specifically track program participation, employment status, and housing for reentry clients.

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

Able to continue operation without additional funding from the State of Oklahoma