Building Second Chances: Tools for Local Reentry Coalitions

Assess existing resources and gaps 

This part of the toolkit will show you the steps you can take to review what resources are already available to support the reentry population in your community. You’ll also learn how to identify gaps in services that point to a need for resources.

The information and resources in this section include:

• Questions to consider

The Questions to Consider in this section will lead you through where to find existing reentry resources:

Questions to Consider
	Do you know how much federal, state, and private funding is available for local reentry efforts? It is possible that your community is not taking full advantage of the funding resources that are available to you. “Scanning Available Funding Resources” in Appendix C: Part 2 will help your local reentry coalition organize the details of available funding and understand its scope.
	Do you know how local agencies and organizations are expending available funding? Before seeking additional funds to meet your community’s reentry needs, you first should assess how local agencies are spending existing funds on reentry efforts. “Cataloging Resources that Support Pre-release and Community-Based Services” in Appendix C: Part 2 will guide your local reentry coalition through this assessment so that you can determine how current resources meet your reentry population’s needs and what further changes are necessary to make smarter investments in reentry. For a comprehensive understanding of how resources are used, be sure to consider in-kind resources as well as actual funding.
	Do expenditures align with what you discovered in the reentry mapping process? Refer back to the reentry map you completed in Section 1 to compare how current expenditures align with the reentry supports and services that are connected to each of the decision points on the map. Take note if there are points on the map where programs and services are unavailable but needed, or if there are under- or over-utilized services at any point in the map. This information will help you determine whether you need to reallocate existing resources and identify where additional funding could have the biggest impact.