WNY Reentry Resources (2024)

In 2016, the Greater Buffalo Racial Equity Roundtableidentified the need to strengthen the reentry system in Erie County as one of its ten strategic goals to ensure that the region’s growth and prosperity benefited all of its diverse populations including those who have been incarcerated and involved with the criminal justice system. The Roundtable, composed of the county’s top elected officials, agency directors, business leaders, non-profit and faith leaders, and the philanthropic community, created the Erie County Reentry Coalition to carry out this objective. The coalition’s membership included representatives from the organizations on the Roundtable and added others who had a stake and interest in reentry including non-profit reentry providers, community activists, and individuals with lived experiences in contact with the criminal justice system. The work of both the Roundtable and the Erie County Reentry Coalition has been facilitated by the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo (CFGB).

To date, the major accomplishments of the Reentry Coalition have been to develop the Service Link Stop at 120 W. Eagle Street as a one-stop resource for clients in need of services; the expansion of jail and probation reentry programs and services through securing over $4 million in federal funding; the support for the Erie County Sheriff’s Office’s new Division of Community Reintegration; and the continued efforts to improve the care and coordination of services among members which occurs at quarterly meetings and which is the primary goal of this website.

An overview of the reentry coalition work is presented here:

At the February 2023 Reentry Coalition meeting, the Co-Chairs laid out the Coalition’s priorities for 2023:

1. Supporting the development of the Sheriff's Office's new Division of Community Reintegration

2. Expansion of SLS services

3. Final development and implementation of the Virtual Reentry Hub/Website

4. Support for workforce development proposals including those from Rep. Baskin which will be implemented by the Erie County Corrections Specialist Advisory Board

The Reentry Coalition’s work has been guided by an action plan in April 2019.

It identified the creation and development of the Service Link Stop, the expansion of jail reentry services, and the development of a Virtual Hub/Reentry Website to help facilitate the larger mission of the coalition to improve coordination and care between coalition members.

In March of 2018, the Reentry Coalition received a report from the Council of State Governments Justice Center which provided an overall assessment of the reentry resources available to individuals in need of such services. Read the report >

Members of the reentry coalition include:

• 211 of WNY
• Back to Basics
• Best Self
• Buffalo Employment and Training Center
• Buffalo City Mission
• Buffalo Federation of Neighborhood Centers
• Buffalo Public Schools
• Catholic Charities of Buffalo
• CCNY
• Erie County Department of Mental Health
• Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
• Community Resources for Justice
• New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision
• Erie County Department of Social Services
• Endeavor Health Services
• Erie County District Attorney's Office
• Erie County Legislature
• Erie County Probation Department
• Erie County Sheriff's Office
• Health Now
• Horizon Health
• Leadership for Justice Innovation
• Legal Aid Buffalo
• Medaille
• Osborne FamilyWorks
• Peaceprints of WNY
• Jewish Family Services
• Restoration Society Inc.
• Saving Grace Ministries, Inc.
• Say Yes to Education
• Spectrum Health & Human Services
• United Healthcare
• Voice Buffalo
• Workforce Buffalo

Felicia Beard is the Associate Vice President, Racial Equity Initiatives at the Community Foundation. In this role, Felicia is responsible for developing, supporting and advancing the Community Foundation’s commitment to racial/ethnic equity. She also manages the work of the Greater Buffalo Racial Equity Roundtable, a group of more than 35 community leaders from public, private, nonprofit and faith organizations committed to tackling racial equity in Western New York by expanding opportunities for all.

Mark O’Brien LCSW-R is a licensed clinical social worker with over forty years of mental health, child welfare and health care experience. A 1983 SUNY at Buffalo School of Social Work graduate, currently he is the Commissioner of Mental Health for Erie County. He is the chair of the eight-county Regional Planning Consortium (RPC) and was former President and co-founder of Integrity Partners for Behavioral Health, a 14 county, 26 organizational member IPA for the provision of behavioral health services in the western and finger lakes regions of the State.

Thomas Diina currently serves as the Chief of Community Reintegration for the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, a newly created position within the Office’s Jail Management Division. Tom began his career with the Sheriff’s Office in 2001, beginning as a Deputy assigned to the Holding Center, and progressed through the ranks until assuming his current role. He is a 1997 graduate from UB, holding a BA in Social Sciences Interdisciplinary – Legal Studies.