Every year, a significant number of returning citizens make their way back into society with hopes of rebuilding their lives. But despite their commitment, many face roadblocks that slow or stop their progress.
The issue isn’t motivation—it’s infrastructure. A lack of coordination between service providers, manual processes, and fragmented data leads to delays, confusion, and lost opportunities.
Challenges Facing Returning Citizens
Returning citizens are not short on motivation but the systems meant to support them often are. Here are some of the most pressing challenges they face:
- Lack of Stable Housing and Employment
Securing stable housing is a foundational step to reentry success. Yet many returning citizens face outright rejection due to their criminal records or lack of income. According to a report by the Prison Policy Initiative, formerly incarcerated people experience homelessness at a rate nearly 10 times higher than the general population—about 5700 per 100,000, compared to just 21 per 100,000 (Couloute, 2018).
Landlord discrimination, long waitlists, and lack of support services fuel a housing crisis for returning citizens—especially for women, people of color, and those with multiple incarcerations.
- Employment Barriers
Despite their willingness to work, returning citizens are often locked out of the job market. A 2018 national survey revealed a 27% unemployment rate among formerly incarcerated individuals—higher than the U.S. has ever seen, even during the Great Depression (Couloute & Kopf, 2018).
More recent findings show that in a federal cohort of over 50,000 people released from prison, only 40% were employed at any given time in the four years post-release (Wang & Bertram, 2022). Those who found jobs often cycled through three or more positions, reflecting unstable, short-term employment. Licensing restrictions and employer bias further marginalize this population in the labor market.
- Inconsistent Access to Health and Mental Health Services
Many returning citizens leave prison with untreated chronic conditions, substance use disorders, and mental health needs. Yet they reenter the community without insurance or access to timely care.
In fact, only 50% had health insurance in the month before their arrest, compared to 91% of the general population (Widra, 2022). Delays in Medicaid enrollment and fragmented services create a dangerous coverage gap.
The result? Returning citizens are 12 times more likely to die in the first two weeks after release, due to overdoses, suicide, or unmanaged health conditions (Widra, 2022).
- Disconnected Services and Siloed Agencies
Multiple organizations may be involved in supporting a single individual yet often operate in isolation. Without a shared platform or real-time coordination, information falls through the cracks and so do people.
Caseworkers spend valuable time chasing down updates instead of delivering care. Disjointed services lead to frustration, duplication of efforts, and, in many cases, disengagement.
- Paper-Based, Time-Consuming Processes
Many nonprofits still depend on manual, paper-based systems that slow down key processes like intake, referrals, and tracking. These outdated methods not only waste valuable time but also increase the risk of errors and missed opportunities. Without connected services and centralized case data, returning citizens often face long delays, repeated steps, and growing frustration, ultimately leading many to disengage from the support systems designed to help them.
Case Snapshot: Where the System Breaks
Take the example of Darren, a returning citizen looking to find work and reunite with his children. He contacted several local organizations for housing and job training:
- His intake was handwritten and misplaced, delaying processing by weeks.
- One organization referred him to a workforce program without checking availability while it had already closed enrollment.
- No system tracked the status of his multiple service requests.
With each delay, Darren’s hope diminished. Unfortunately, his experience mirrors what many face every day.
A Smarter Solution: NPSM by ADVANCE
Advance Solutions Corp. (ADVANCE) developed NPSM (Nonprofit Service Management) to directly address these challenges with empathy, efficiency, and innovation. Built on the trusted ServiceNow platform, NPSM enables nonprofits and community-based organizations to unify their efforts with centralized case management, so that every returning citizen’s journey is tracked, supported, and informed by real-time data. By automating referrals, case updates, and progress tracking, it allows caseworkers to spend less time on paperwork and more time on what matters most, supporting people.
At its core, NPSM is designed to enhance human touch rather than replace it. The platform strengthens collaboration among support networks, breaking down silos and ensuring services are delivered with care, speed, and accountability. Whether it’s finding a safe place to stay, applying for training, or receiving health services, NPSM ensures that each step is seamlessly connected. This approach turns fragmented systems into coordinated care, giving returning citizens a fair chance to move forward, and organizations the tools they need to make a meaningful difference.
Let’s Reinvent Reentry Together
Returning citizens deserve more than a second chance; they deserve systems that work for them, not against them. With NPSM, nonprofits and support organizations can close critical gaps, offer meaningful guidance, and help people thrive and not just survive.
Ready to see how NPSM transforms reentry?
Request a Demo and join the movement to make reentry a pathway to purpose.
References
- Couloute, L. (2018). Nowhere to Go: Homelessness among formerly incarcerated people. Prison Policy Initiative. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/housing.html
- Couloute, L., & Kopf, D. (2018). Out of Prison & Out of Work: Unemployment among formerly incarcerated people. Prison Policy Initiative. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/outofwork.html
- Wang, L., & Bertram, W. (2022). New data on formerly incarcerated people’s employment reveal labor market injustices. Prison Policy Initiative. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2022/04/13/employment/
- Widra, E. (2022). Why states should change Medicaid rules to cover people leaving prison. Prison Policy Initiative. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/medicaid.html