Project RETURN

Project RETURN was a winner of the 2020 Data Dream Award from Data You Can Use, the Milwaukee NNIP partner. Project RETURN (Returning EX-incarcerated people to Urban Realities and Neighborhoods) exists to help men and women make a positive, permanent return to community, family and friends. The organization's leadership was aware that each year thousands of people who served time in Wisconsin's prison system were coming home to Milwaukee County. They wanted to know more about the characteristics of those who would be returning so they could better prepare and advocate for adequate resources. Knowing  that the lack of stable housing is linked to recidivism, DYCU worked with data from the Department of Corrections to document the numbers and needs of those returning to the community. The data have been shared with the Community Justice Council, the Criminal Justice Program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, funders, local and regional HUD offices, and Milwaukee County Housing Division as people work together to fill the unmet needs identified in the report.