Reentry Coordinator will help people transition from incarceration to freedom

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) – The City of Rochester has hired a Reentry Coordinator to help residents navigate the transition from incarceration to freedom. Stephen Bryant Jr. started work this week. He will help former criminal offenders who are returning to city neighborhoods from local jails, state and federal prisons, and juvenile detention facilities gain access to services that will hopefully reduce the likelihood of them re-engaging in criminal activity.

Bryant is born and raised in the City of Rochester and it’s part of what drives him to do this work, “it’s not what’s wrong with these young people, it’s what happened to them,” he tells News10NBC, “taking that holistic approach and validation when it comes to addressing their needs.”

Bryant will act as a middle-man of sorts, “we are willing to meet people wherever they’re at to get them where they need to be. So, that could be meeting people directly in the jail, I know that we’ve had some meetings early on with some of the leadership at local county jails to try and establish that report,” he says.

The goal is to connect the individual with the services they need to support themselves and their family as quickly as possible so they’re not forced to turn back to crime in order to provide. “One thing that I enjoy quite often is exposing them to different what I call their sparks which hopefully we can cultivate into a flame right so, for example connecting them to arts, theater whatever drives them in those internal assets,” Bryant explains.