Join the Reentry Action Network (RAN)

To be eligible to join RAN, your organization must:
•  be a 501c(3) nonprofit and
•  provide direct reentry services to incarcerated and or returning citizens in DC.

Member Obligations

 1. Members must actively participate in at least one of RAN’s three committees:

  • Policy
  • Programming
  • Community Engagement

2. Participate in-person at no less than two-thirds of full member meetings of RAN within one fiscal year (four out of six meetings).

3. Attend and support special events presented by RAN.

Member Benefits

As a member of RAN, you will have the opportunity to connect with other nonprofit, community-based reentry service providers to share information, insights about your work, collaborate on projects, and serve as a collective voice for reentry and returning citizens in the District. Your organization’s staff and your returning citizen clients will also have access to unique training opportunities. 

Past RAN training opportunities include:

  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Trauma-Informed Care for Justice-Involved People Train-the-Trainer Event. Participants learned about the impact of trauma, how to develop trauma-informed responses, and those participants received certification to go into the community and train others to be trauma-informed;
  • Comprehensive Communications training facilitated by Kristin Adair of the Unchained Media Collective and Melanie Bates of Melanie Bates Consulting LLC. Participants, including RAN member organizations and their returning citizen clients, were taught how to communicate with and educate the media and government officials about reentry topics, as well as how to share their personal experiences in a compelling way in relation to a policy goal or ask;
  • Introduction to Housing First Models and Reentry Housing Policy;
  • Trainings on DC’s legislative and budgetary processes.
    • Smaller, more informal trainings and presentations about the District’s legislative process, housing for returning citizens, and trauma-informed care during RAN Member meetings.
    • Additional trainings offered at the request of members!
Meeting Schedule
 Zoom
1:00–2:00 pm

RAN open meetings are generally held on the second Tuesday of every other month from 1:00-2:00 pm unless noted otherwise.

For questions, please email RAN’s Administrator, Melanie Bates Consulting, LLC, at [email protected].

Application Form
Application Form