Celebrating Families Reunited by the Family Re-entry Program

December 23, 2021January 7, 2022 LaToya

It was an evening to celebrate reuniting families. On December 9, 2021, NYCHA’s Family Partnerships Department brought together residents who are part of the Family Re-entry Program (FRP) or interested in it, program partners, family and friends, and NYCHA employees to celebrate the work of the program, which allows people who have been recently released from incarceration to live with their families in NYCHA developments.

During the celebration, Yolanda Johnson-Peterkin, NYCHA’s director of the program, told everyone the evening wasn’t about who had been incarcerated, but instead what the program accomplishes: “What happens here is that families are put back together. The success of the program is the people who have reunited with their families. When someone says they’ve done something that they’re not proud of, please make sure you support that individual and please make sure that you’re there for that individual, because that’s what NYCHA does.”

woman holding a mic and speaking in front of a room — Yolanda Johnson-Peterkin, Chief of Housing Community Activities in NYCHA’s
Family Partnerships Department, welcomed everyone to the event.

NYCHA’s FRP supports people who are motivated to make positive changes in their life with services provided by re-entry partners, including help with gaining employment or entering training programs and case management. After completing two successful years in the program, participants can be permanently added to their family’s NYCHA lease.

FRP, which launched in November 2013, is a collaboration between NYCHA, the Vera Institute for Justice, the Corporation for Supportive Housing, and numerous community-based service providers. It is the largest public housing re-entry program of its kind in the United States and has served as a model for other housing authorities across the country. (To learn more about NYCHA’s work to modernize its justice-related policies — including lifting permanent exclusion after five years without justice system involvement —click here.)

Research shows that access to housing and reunification with family significantly increases the likelihood that a person leaving incarceration will be able to find and keep a job and not commit another crime. In the past three years, there have been no new convictions for FRP participants, and only five new arrests in seven years.

Since its launch, 175 people have participated in FRP, with 131 successfully completing the program and 44 of the graduating participants added onto the lease. Many participants who completed the program moved into their own apartment, moved out of a NYCHA development, or moved with their family to homes they bought out of state.

Darnell Smith attended the celebration with his wife and children. He successfully completed FRP and was added to the lease of his NYCHA apartment that he shares with his wife and four children; he also works for NYCHA as an Asbestos Handler. “NYCHA’s Re-entry Program was everything,” Mr. Smith said. “If it wasn’t for this program giving me the opportunity to become a permanent resident with my family, I don’t know where I would be. I’m honored to be a part of it. It allowed me to chase my dreams and do what I had to – and who would’ve thought that a few years later I’d be working for housing?”

man holding a baby — Darnell Smith with his youngest child. He successfully completed the Family Re-Entry Program.

two women speaking, one on the right is holding a baby — Mr. Smith’s wife and daughter speak to another guest at the event.

Individuals interested in applying for the Family Re-entry Program should call 212-306-6024 or email family.reentry@nycha.nyc.gov for more information.