Governor Cooper last week announced the release of the Reentry 2030 strategic plan, which calls for government-wide coordination to improve the reintegration of former inmates through 26 measurable goals.
Portia Bright-Pittman was involved in the initial phase of Governor Cooper’s Reentry Council Collaborative in 2018. She is also the founder of NC Reentry Innovators for Success, Inc., a Winterville-based nonprofit focused on helping people reintegrate into society after incarceration.
“When we started in 2020, it was originally created to help people find housing after they were released from prison during the pandemic,” she explained. “And so that morphed into offering workshops and partnerships with the Department of Health and NC Works.”
Bright-Pittman herself is a reentry success story: a mother, successful entrepreneur, author and legislative assistant in North Carolina. She hopes the Reentry 2030 strategic plan will change the dialogue about incarceration and help bring more attention to the issue.
“I think we’re seeing some positive changes in our communities. And you just have to change the whole perspective that once a person is in prison, they’re not going to come out and do better, you have to change their life,” she said. “Because that’s what we want to see at the end of the day. Only by providing resources can we reduce recidivism.”
Bright-Pittman said this is just the beginning and she looks forward to seeing how this initiative impacts the state.
“We are excited about this partnership with the Pitt County Department of Health and Human Services and look forward to seeing it rolled out across the state to help people in other communities access these resources,” she said.
Some of Reentry 2030’s initiatives are already underway. The Department of Adult Correction has launched a driver’s school program to prepare inmates to obtain a commercial driver’s license, and the Department of Health and Human Services has allocated $5.5 million for a program to help recently released offenders with serious mental illness.
