Voices for Voices®

Beyond Bars: Rebuilding Lives Through Citizen Circle | Episode 220

• Founder of Voices for Voices®, Justin Alan Hayes • Season 4 • Episode 220

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Beyond Bars: Rebuilding Lives Through Citizen Circle | Episode 220

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The Summit County Citizen Circle stands as a beacon of hope for justice-impacted individuals seeking to rebuild their lives after incarceration. In this powerful conversation with co-leaders Lisa Dolan and Shawn Bonner, we explore how this innovative program has become a model for reentry support across Ohio and beyond.

Every second Thursday, this remarkable collaboration brings together over 50 different service providers who set aside competitive interests to focus solely on helping participants overcome barriers to successful reintegration. "We all play nice on the playground," Lisa explains, capturing the spirit that has made Summit County's approach so effective that justice-impacted individuals from other counties are actually relocating to access these resources.

The impact is evident in the program's 2024 statistics: 80 justice-impacted participants served, hundreds of bus passes distributed, thousands of dollars in clothing and hygiene assistance provided, and countless moments of profound human connection. "Grown men in tears," Shawn describes, "because they did not know that they're feeling the love." Rather than prescribing rigid paths forward, Citizen Circle empowers participants to create their own "redirection plans" based on individual needs and goals.

What truly sets this program apart is its commitment to meeting people where they are without judgment. "In the land of second chances, leave pride outside the door," Shawn advises participants. This philosophy acknowledges that recovery isn't linear – setbacks happen, but the support remains consistent. As Lisa affirms, "If you relapse whether it's due to addiction or just life happens, it's okay. Come back to us when you're ready."

Want to get involved or need support? Contact Lisa Dolan at 330-208-3829 to learn more about participating, volunteering, or attending their biannual resource and job fairs featuring second-chance employers. Don't miss their next event on May 15th at the Chapel in Akron!

• Citizen Circle meets the second Thursday of each month (February-December) and serves 8-10 individuals in approximately four hours
• Transportation was the top need in 2024, with over 321 day bus passes and 23 monthly passes distributed
• Employment support and housing with rental assistance ranked as the second and third most needed resources
• The program provided $3,900 in clothing assistance and $850 in hygiene products in 2024
• Summit County's robust reentry resources have attracted justice-impacted individuals to relocate from other counties
• Unlike many social service environments, providers work collaboratively rather than competitively
• Participants create "redirection plans" rather than "reentry plans," emphasizing choice and empowerment
• The program combines tangible resources with emotional support in a judgment-free environment

"Don't let your past define what your future looks like. Don't give up on you."

#socialimpact #citizencircle #crimereduction #prisonreform #communityengagement #recidivismreduction #secondchances #socialenterprise #nonprofitorganization #reentryprogram #communityoutreach #socialchange #justiceequity #crimeprevention #socialinnovation

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Justin Alan Hayes:

Welcome to this episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. I am your host, founder and executive director of Voices for Justin Alan Hayes. Thank you for joining us, whether you're listening or watching here in Northeast Ohio, across the state of Ohio, the United States or in any of the 51 other countries and 500 cities across the world. Thanks for the support and tuning in. If you're able to, please give us a thumbs up on this episode. Leave a comment like, share, follow Voices for Voices. We're on all the major social media platforms and, as you know by now, besides Hudson Community Television, where this episode will be aired five times, starting with the premiere date of Wednesday at 4 pm when we get to the actual airing dates. So that's kind of the schedule. But then you can also, if you're on the subway, if you're going for a jog, mowing the grass, shoveling the snow, got the earbuds in, you can find the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. The very same content whether you view it on a TV screen, a phone or whether you're listening through the earbuds. So we're hitting 17 plus platforms overall. So there's really no way that you can't find Voices for Voices. So, thank you. Whether this is your first episode. You're tuning into or we're well into over 180 episodes by now and we are going to hit overall by the end of 2025, 300 total between the episodes we do here in the studio as well as ones we do on location. We're going to be doing some on location coming up in the April-May time frame. I don't want to give away where that's going to be, but it's not going to be here in the United States, it's going to be in another country. So we're very excited about that and you've probably heard me talk a little bit about that in previous episodes.

Justin Alan Hayes:

So this episode is a continuation of a previous episode where we are exploring what is commonly referred to here as the citizen circle here in Summit County in the state of Ohio, and the guests I have are the individuals who co-lead and really get the wheels turning and so that when the Citizen Circle date does come, that there is a level of conformity a little bit to it, but, as you probably heard on a previous episode, there is flexibility for walk-ins and, just like last year when I attended my first Citizen Circle meeting, what I thought in my head what an individual coming out of incarceration.

Justin Alan Hayes:

We can not love the crime or the things that put them in that situation, but we can love them as a human being, and you will have gotten that from our previous episode, as you're going to continue today. So we have again our two guests here in studio. So we have again our two guests here in studio, the co-leaders, co-anchors of the Citizen Circle here in Summit County. We have Lisa Dolan and Shawn Bonner. Thank you for sticking around for our second episode, thank you for having us.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for having us again.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah, I know you have some stats on the Citizen Circle. Yes, would you care to share?

Speaker 3:

absolutely so. First and foremost, citizen circle is once a month. We only do, though, 11 months out of the year, which is February through December. So citizen circle once a month, the second Thursday of each month, and we can see eight to ten people within about four hours or so. So in 2024, we ended up with let me give you a quick lowdown we had 80 justice-imp justice impacted individuals that actually attended. We usually schedule a little bit more, but for one reason or another, sometimes people are unable to attend. We had a total of 312 providers attend, and that would be the circle is over 50 different providers, but that's saying, within those 11 months, we have volunteers, we have people observe, I think the first time that you attended. When people reach out to Sean or myself about the circle, I give them a brief okay, here's what it's about. But I encourage you to come and observe the first time and come in person, because we do hybrid, but come in person, see what's going on, then decide if you want to be part of it, and that's generally. Most people just are kind of awestruck when they see what really happens within that period of time.

Speaker 3:

We have found that the most needed resources in 2024, our number one was bus passes and gas cards. A lot of our individuals do not have a valid driver's license. They're working on it, things like that. We were able to distribute over 321 day bus passes and we distributed 23 31 day bus passes the 31 day ones we generally give to somebody who maybe has new employment. We want to, you know, be able to get them so that they can get to and from work and get a paycheck or two before they have to kind of be responsible for it, not to say that we won't give them more if need be. Employment was the second neatest barrier housing with rental assistance.

Speaker 3:

Number three, which is really one of the toughest ones, and not just in Summit County but pretty much across the board clothing and food. We distributed thirty nine hundred dollars worth of clothing. What we would normally do is give like a $100 gift card to a retail store and then, with the food, again usually $100 to a grocery store we spent. Another thing was hygiene products. We spent upwards of $850 on hygiene products because we will give when somebody comes to their Citizen Circle appointment, we will give them the hygiene products there.

Speaker 3:

So you know we're doing a lot with not a lot of money, we've learned to be thrifty on what we do have and figure out how to help the best that we can. So it's yeah, 2024 was a good year, and you also witnessed this, and people coming in are justice-impacted individuals and grown men in tears just because they did not know that, whether it's the tangible goods or just the support, they're feeling the love that they're feeling just kind of like wow. And we have somebody, john, I asked were you expecting all this? And they're like no.

Speaker 2:

And I actually have a Summit County shout out, and that's not just a Summit County Citizen Circle shout out, but shout out to Summit County.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Because we have in Summit County so many resources that surround themselves around reentry, mental health and addiction, and now we're working together in more silos than one and we've experienced an uprising individuals wanting to relocate from other counties to Summit County, particularly because the richness of the second chance resources I had no idea about that and I think that is amazing, because we just think about, in general, where people relocate at a macro level oh, I'm going to relocate to Florida for one reason or another, and so to have justice individuals in other counties in the state of Ohio and maybe in different states, and then they hear about the circle and that it helped somebody that they knew or know, continue to know, is huge. Can you just talk a little bit about, like like on an emotional side of things besides, like okay, yep, that number is up, but how does that make you feel? Because you know, I know you don't like titles and that I don't do this, but just from being associated with the circles, it's totally fine.

Speaker 2:

So Lisa and my other colleague, Ms Riley, will go into a prison and they'll attend a resource fair a lot of times. If you are housed in a prison inside of Ohio, then you get the resources in a geographical area that you'll be coming back to, along with some neighboring cities, and so when Lisa and Riley attend the resource fairs, the individuals from those surrounding cities come through and they collect information. And when they say, for instance, we may have some individuals from Calgary County visit our Citizen Circle table and just realize how much is available and here, and so they start asking questions and then sometimes, as soon as they get home, they'll stop through and Lisa doesn't work for South Street Ministries but Riley does, and they'll come in for South Street Ministries but Riley does. And they'll come into South Street Ministries and I've seen her at the resource fair with Lisa and start asking questions and start getting acclimated with what's going on in our city, in our county, to better equip them with the releasing of the barriers that's preventing them from moving forward in their lives.

Speaker 3:

And the ODRC, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections. They were aware that some of the counties within Ohio the less populated they didn't have the same type of resources and help as some of the more populated. So one of the things that they did in what was that 2022, 2023, something like that was to try to put either a citizen circle or there's something called a coalition, a reentry coalition. It's all about helping that same population, whatever you want to call it, but try to get something in all 88 counties and they were pretty successful. Some counties have both a coalition and a circle. Some have one or the other. We're fortunate in the summit to have both both but so it was really great to see that they were aware that I'm sorry if somebody lived in one of those counties that just didn't have it, but there still need the help. That ODRC was like what, what can we do?

Justin Alan Hayes:

and they did it also in the form of some funding which helped for the expansion, so so that was really wonderful and one thing I another thing I like about the circle with so much divisiveness, you know, politically out there one of the things I do like there's just no form that asks what political affiliation anybody is associated with, and it really does.

Justin Alan Hayes:

As I mentioned, and both Sean and Lisa mentioned, it's about the individual and we all have different choices, different things, but when it comes down to the citizen circle, it's individuals helping individuals, it's humans helping humans. I think of a doctor. Somebody has a heart attack and they need to have emergency surgery. The doctors are going to say, oh well, what do you list as your affiliation? And I think that's one thing that individuals they may think, because, depending on however they view social media or things they might go, oh, you know, it's going to be one of these things.

Justin Alan Hayes:

And if you're not on this side or that side, but that really just gets to how you're helping the person and all the providers that come, they're there to help the person and that is, I think, at the bare bones, the foundation of the Citizen Circle. And it's key for individuals watching, listening about this that it's truly about the individual and meeting, as Sean mentioned, Lisa, meeting them where they're at. Some might be at step four, some might be at step two, some might be at zero. It's all about having that structure but knowing enough that if this person falls into this category, this provider might not be able to help because they might not have organizations and companies that would employ based off of a background, and I think that's beautiful because it doesn't come across in a well, here's what you need to do. You're going to do this, this, this and this. It's kind of like that in our minds, what we want to cover, but it never comes out like that, and I think that's one of the great traits of both of you and everybody that attends.

Speaker 3:

I think, one of the things that Shawn and I are most proud of. So the circle in and of itself does not provide anyone's service. It's all of the providers we have and what we are so proud of. I like to just simplify and say you know what we all play nice on the playground. What you said about we are there for that individual. We are there for that individual.

Speaker 3:

Most of the agencies are nonprofits, or you know, I'm actually with a government agency, but funding is this big thing. Everybody's competing for money. But when we come together for the circle, that all goes away because you know the three or four places that that provide job readiness. It's all about that individual, not, you know, they don't have a price tag over their head because I can get more money if you come my way. That all is just non-existent within that citizen circle and that's, I think, also why we are so successful. We are one of the citizens circles in the state of Ohio that other counties will come and look or see or talk to us for guidance. You know ODRC will say, hey, you know, summit's pretty successful and we just kind of tell them what we do, how we do it and we're here to help, because we're all trying to help that same population.

Justin Alan Hayes:

And that's I'll let you jump in. I just want to mention that that is true. You know, sometimes we hear, oh yeah, nobody's being compensated for things, but it's a legit thing. I've never witnessed any organization, any provider, try to be like oh well, you know, unlike them, we do this and there's none of that. It's like actually the truth, which some might find incredible, but it really is, and I think, as an individual coming into the circle, not having that too, that's one thing that could be a turnoff right away. Be like all right, they're not telling me what exactly to do, but they're fighting over and what's going on, and I just can't handle that, and so just to piggyback off of Lisa, and we don't, our agencies don't compete in any type of way.

Speaker 2:

Like she said, some may be geographical, easier for others to access, or who knows who, but one thing it does is it allows us to remove or alleviate what we call absolutes, and that means that we don't. Just because you're in this type of situation, we don't say you have to go here. We give individuals the liberty to create their own. We don't use reentry plan anymore, but redirection plan as to where they feel that they want to go, and then we assist them by empowering them to just make the first step and step to that door. The first thing we say is in the land of second chances, leave pride outside the door. You don't have no place in here because folks do mess up. But as long as folks are accountable for whatever happened and we can reach an avenue where we can move forward, then we graciously walk through those doors together.

Justin Alan Hayes:

I love that. And another thing the individuals, when they come to the circle I know from just attending different conferences and different meetings come with a notebook and the expectation is, oh, I've got to write everything down that's important, otherwise I'm going to miss it, or can you send me the slide deck? But that doesn't happen. At the circle, one or more of the volunteers that's what they do. They make the check marks next to the providers and at the end, well, well, I guess during that time the individuals are told you know, don't? You know, you don't need. If you want to write something, you can, but everything's being handled. You're going to get a folder at the end with those resources and then again to that empowerment. You can decide who you want to reach out to, who you don't want to, at your own time, and that.

Justin Alan Hayes:

I think it's something like we overlook that, but from an individual, they're just maybe thinking about their story and the crimes and to have every little barrier that can be removed, the better. I think the opportunity is for them to be accepting and maybe part of why people attend and come by the resource fair, the booth, and why they may want to. Like you mentioned, Shawn, they may have lived in Cuyahoga County, but one way or another the birdies gotten in their ear about summit county, and that's that's something that's huge, even if it's just one person. Even just one person they come, that's one more person that's going to have at least the opportunity to to really uh, succeed with what we have available.

Speaker 3:

And we get I'll get phone calls. It's word of mouth. Hey, my friend said they came to Citizen Circle blah blah, blah.

Speaker 3:

To me, that is the absolute best form of call it advertisement if you will is word of mouth because that means somebody was satisfied, somebody felt what was going on or actually had some improvement. A lot of times, I guess, whether it's a tangible a bus pass, a gas card, a this, or that we give them a lunch Just getting something gives them like wow, that first step in the right direction and that word of mouth is fantastic. I love hearing that.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and one of our most important we have a lot of moving parts on site on the second Thursday of the month and one of our, I want to say, most accepting positions is the position of the individual who does our surveys.

Speaker 2:

The person who does our surveys gets to see in totality because the individuals inside the circle we're trying to stay on task and get individuals in, get individuals out, get them what they need but the person who is doing the circle I mean the survey is spending a little extra time with this individual, why they fill out their surveys and they get to see the ultimate ending reactions and then and then relay them back to us and and a lot of them.

Speaker 2:

If you're not there in the moment, you won't know about the tears that shared in a dream lab, the hugs that shared in the dream lab, the back hugs that shared in the dream lab, the back-smacking hugs and the handshakes that shared in the dream labs. And that's when that regurgitation of these folks out here, somebody really do care about me and I didn't. Oh, one of the questions that we always ask at the end is did you expect all of this? And so that gives us a glimpse to see what's going, what's going to go on in the real time, you know, and so, um, even that is so, so rewarding, and that's one of our invisible paychecks and so you're.

Speaker 3:

You're talking about the end result, but I do want to take a minute, if it's okay to talk about the end result. But I do want to take a minute, if it's okay, to talk about the very beginning. We also have our intake. Dr Joyce is our intake. I'm not a medical doctor.

Speaker 3:

This woman is so caring. The participants come in, fill out a little bit of some paperwork to get it started and then they meet with Joycece before they come into the circle. She kind of goes over their paperwork many times. They just will open up to her and she will not just say well, you know what, your time's up because they need you in the circle. So what we've learned to do because they may actually be in a crisis at that moment and she's not going to just pass them off. So what we've learned to do is just maybe take the next person yeah to, because we are on a time frame and we want to make sure we give time to everyone you know to as needed. But she's absolutely fantastic. Um with she can get right to the root of people and they will open up to her. So kudos to Joyce. We are so fortunate to have her as well, as well as all of our other volunteers. Nobody's getting paid to do the circle and we have.

Speaker 3:

You just, Shawn, said a lot of moving parts and unfortunately, I'm sorry I don't have time to name everybody by name, but please, if anybody's going to watch this that is, you know, part of our circle. We, Shawn and I appreciate you as a provider and all of our providers that support it and all of the help you know, the volunteers and that we couldn't do it without the group that we have. And we're always expanding that group.

Justin Alan Hayes:

We're getting a little short on time, but what I want to make sure we get in is how individuals can learn about the circle. Like you said, word of mouth it could be word of seeing the show or listening to the show, and it may have a referral or an organization has. Let's say whether it's tangible things like clothing or things. How can they find out about what they can do to help?

Speaker 3:

So if they want to come as a participant that needs help, or they want to come to volunteer, however, the best course of action would be to reach out to me. Am I allowed to give my contact?

Justin Alan Hayes:

You can.

Speaker 3:

Okay perfect.

Speaker 3:

So really the easiest way is to contact me. My name is Lisa Dolan, my contact number 330-208-3829. I am actually the re-entry specialist for the county. I work up for the Department of Public Safety. I do the scheduling. If anybody wants to know really what is Citizen Circle or can I get involved, can I just reach out to me?

Speaker 3:

We do also attend many different events throughout the county. We also host a couple. We have our next twice a year. We do a resource fair combined with a job fair, and our providers at the job fair are those that will hire second chance. So we're in the midst of planning our May 15th one that will be at the chapel in Akron. Again, the best way if you want any info, reach out to me. Most of the time on a day-to-day basis. I'm a little more easily accessible than Shawn is. We both wear a few different hats, but it's it's probably best to just get a hold of me and I'll be happy to go take you from there all right, uh Shawn do anything would you like to share, like a closing message or how?

Speaker 2:

yes, um, um. I would just like to say God bless everyone who's watching this show. Don't let your past define what your future looks like. Don't give up on you and let's do our affirmations in the mirror and just tell ourselves how much we love ourselves and then put some action behind that to bring life to it.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Wow, that's powerful. Anything in addition to the contact that you'd like to share here in our closing?

Speaker 3:

Just know that we are here. We are a group of people. We're nonjudgmental. Our sole purpose is to help someone become successful, whatever that their success means to them. And we're just here to support you. And you know what, if you're taking some steps and you're going forward and then you relapse whether it's due to addiction or just life happens, it's okay. To addiction or just life happens, it's okay we're always going to be there. Come back to us when you're ready. We'll pick up either where we left off or start a new, help you with a new game plan. We are just here, along with yourself and the many other providers like yourself. We just care about people's success and going in a redirection.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Right, Thank you so much.

Speaker 3:

Lisa, thank you so much, justin, thank you.

Justin Alan Hayes:

. Thank you, and we couldn't do this show without having an audience of interested individuals to watch and listen and even check out the transcript individuals to watch and listen and even check out the transcript, if that's an easier way for you to consume the content. We are grateful to have had Sean and Lisa, Shawn Bonner and Lisa Dolan from the Summit County Citizen Circle, among other hats that they they to come in studio and just be transparent and talk about the work that is being done, and it's incredible work. And, yeah, reach out to Lisa if you or somebody you know may want more information or you may just want that overview of like, okay, what is it and what day is it this month and when, what, what should I do? And lisa will guide you, uh, along the way.

Justin Alan Hayes:

So until next time. Thank you again. Give us a big thumbs up, like, share, comment, follow. We thank you for follow. We thank you for being a part of Voices, for Voices and what we're trying to do at a bigger level, trying to help the human being, that we can not love acts or actions that have been taken, but we can love individuals and, regardless of political sides, we're just helping the common human individual. So until next time, I am founder executive director of Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes, and please be a voice for you or somebody in need.

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