Our Mission

Life Outside Reentry Assistance, Inc., is a not-for-profit organization committed to helping formerly incarcerated people in St. Joseph County, Indiana, return to their communities and thrive. All our services are offered free of charge.

If you are formerly incarcerated and need help with things like employment, healthcare, housing, transportation, education, and others, we’re here to help. Email us at info@life-outside.org and tell us what you need help with.

Our entire team is made of people who have either volunteered in prisons, have family in prison, or have been in prison themselves. We believe in what we do because we’ve lived it and want to find more ways to help.

Our Values

Reform-minded – We believe that mass incarceration needs to be addressed at its root, but we recognize the need to address the worst effects on our communities and their citizens until larger change happens.

Person-centered – We believe that the best way to help someone is to listen to them and to understand their lived experience, so our support will be informed by the justice-involved individuals we serve.

Community-based – We believe that the best solutions to the toughest problems are developed in conversation with a diverse variety of stakeholders, and we aim to involve as broad a coalition as possible.

Research-driven – We believe that lasting change builds on prior foundations, so we root our work in the literature on reentry and develop methods to evaluate its efficacy to ensure that our effort is as impactful as possible.