Homecoming Reentry Summit

On October 17th and 18th, 2019 Inside Out Reentry Community is hosting a two day reentry summit in Iowa City to raise awareness among the general public about the barriers returning citizens face, as well as how we can build a supportive community for those returning home.

Oct. 17th, 6 – 8:30 pm will include an overview on reentry in the State of Iowa from the Director of the Department of Corrections, Beth Skinner, a presentation from Sean Pica, Executive Director of Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, and a voting rights panel featuring Mark Stringer, Executive Director of ACLU Iowa, Alison Guernsey, Clinical Professor University of Iowa Law School, and Doren Walker, a returning citizen and advocate. 

Oct. 18th, 8:30 am – 3:30 pm will feature presentations on higher education in prison and its impacts on reentry, combating discrimination in housing for returning citizens, racial and gender based inequities that individuals face when returning to the community, as well as a panel about restorative justice, behavioral health, and healing. Presenters include a diverse range of returning citizens, attorneys, activists and educators, as well as an exciting keynote – award winning author Mitchell S. Jackson.

Mitchell S. Jackson’s debut novel The Residue Years received wide critical praise. Jackson is the winner of a Whiting Award. His novel also won The Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence and was a finalist for The Center for Fiction Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, the PEN / Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction, and the Hurston / Wright Legacy Award. Jackson’s honors include fellowships from the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center, the Lannan Foundation, the Ford Foundation, PEN America, TED, NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts), and The Center for Fiction. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harpers,The New York Times Book Review, The Paris Review, The Guardian, Time Magazine, Esquire Magazine, and elsewhere. His nonfiction book Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family(Scribner) was published in the spring of 2019. He is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Chicago.

Jackson is also a well-regarded speaker who has delivered lectures and key note addresses at events including the annual TED Conference, the Ubud (Bali) Writers and Readers Festival, and the Sydney Writers’ Festival, as well as institutions including Yale University, Brown University, Cornell University, and Columbia University. A formerly incarcerated person, Jackson is also a social and criminal justice advocate who, as part of his outreach, visits prisons and youth facilities in the United States and abroad.

All events are free. On the 18th, attendees can bring their own lunch or purchase a boxed lunch with their registration. These events are made possible through funding from the City of Iowa City Social Justice and Racial Equity Grant, and partnerships with University of Iowa College of Law and University of Iowa Liberal Arts Beyond Bars.

To register for these events go to:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/homecoming-reentry-summit-tickets-67286316183

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/homecoming-reentry-summit-kickoff-and-voting-rights-panel-tickets-70042919257