PIVOT is a program designed to help women rebuild their lives after being released from prison. Today, when women are released, they walk out the doors with nothing but the clothes on their backs and are expected to find housing, a job, and provide for their families. For many women, no transition or reentry services are available at all. At least one in four women will become homeless after release, and after being rejected by countless employers and landlords due to their criminal records, more than 70% will give up hope and re-offend. However, this statistic drops to less than 9% for people participating in reentry programs. The long term vision of PIVOT is to be the go-to resource for all women being released from incarceration in Maryland - providing access to basic needs like food, clothing, housing and medical care, and helping women rebuild their lives through supportive programming that focuses on job readiness, financial literacy, parenting, health and wellness and more.
In the short term, PIVOT will begin with a pilot program that will walk 10 women through the reentry process, providing community and peer mentors along with the services mentioned above - culminating in employment through one of our employer partners or acceptance into a higher education program. The pilot will launch in June, meeting 2x per week for 12 weeks.