Causes

Human services Community & economic development Violence prevention

Posted by

Nora R.

Volunteer manager

Our mission

Our mission is to provide supportive services to formerly incarcerated men and women in order to help them reintegrate into their communities thereby achieving social and economic well being and breaking the cycle of recidivism.

What we do

Founded in 1999 by Mr. Julio Medina, Exodus Transitional Community, Inc. is a non-profit organization built on the notion that individuals released from prison are not able to re-enter society without resources to support their transition. The mission of Exodus is to provide supportive services to justice-involved and formerly incarcerated women, men, and youth in order to help them reintegrate into their communities, thereby breaking the cycle of recidivism. For the past fifteen years, Exodus has utilized a holistic service model to address this population’s core needs and provide comprehensive transitional services such as training, coaching, and mentoring to over 7,000 individuals.

The vision for Exodus Transitional Community was born inside Sing Sing Correctional Facility during the twelve years of Julio Medina’s own incarceration. He saw the excitement of those waiting to be released, and heard the promises that they would never return. Yet it was hardly uncommon to see the same faces back again a few months later, walking the same yard after an unsuccessful attempt at re-entering society. After speaking with many of those who came back, Julio and a group of collaborators realized that they were hearing of the same obstacles again and again: barriers to employment, difficult and painful family re-integration, lack of adequate housing, health issues, struggles with substance abuse, and a feeling of disconnection from the surrounding community. Men who expected to find happiness beyond prison walls had discovered that society felt like an unknown wilderness, and re-entry was in many ways harder than incarceration had been. After his own release, Julio used what he had learned inside to build an organization that would address the unique needs of individuals experiencing the wilderness of re-entry, not only the tangible issues like unemployment and access to public benefits but also the emotional and spiritual support needed during this challenging time.