I have had a strange experience of watching Super Storm Sandy devastate the resilient city that Reboot calls home. As my colleagues and friends faced terrifying waters, set up makeshift offices where power was available, and helped their neighbors dig out from the storm, I have been watching idly by through images mediated by the likes of CNN and the Internet.

My distance from the suffering at home has been surreally conflated with my proximity to a similar, and inarguably greater, tragedy. I’ve spent most of the last few months in or around Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. During this period, the region has experienced the kind of devastation through floods that come once in a hundred years and they have catastrophically destroyed the homes and livelihoods of countless individuals and communities.

Reboot is very proud to be serving on the Community Advisory Board for the Harlem Justice Corps, a career development and service learning program for justice-involved young men and women who are seeking employment, education services, and meaningful opportunities to serve their communities. In addition to improving education and employment outcomes for Corps members, this new initiative aims to reduce returns to incarceration, and support community development in Harlem. It is part of the broader New York City Justice Corps, and incubated through a partnership of the Harlem Community Justice Center, the Center for Employment Opportunities, Literacy Partners, the College Initiative, and John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Phew! That’s a lot of partners! But it speaks to the rich variety of inputs flowing into this important new program.

Many people do not realize the intensity of the challenge of reentry in … Read More »