Become a Ready for Reentry Partner
2-days of hands-on training in Boulder and online. Leave equipped to start connecting with an inmate who is coming home soon.
Right now, thousands of people in prisons across the country are working through the Ready for Reentry course — naming their goals, facing hard truths, and building serious plans for life after release. They’re asking for one thing the course can’t give them: someone steady and trustworthy on the outside. This training prepares you to be that person.
Why this matters now
People inside are doing transformative work. What’s missing is support on the outside.
Through more than 180 course exercises, men and women inside are taking a hard look at their character, their choices, and the life they want next.
Housing, work, rides, paperwork, loneliness. The first 90 days can undo years of progress, and that’s exactly when a steady friend matters most.
A trained partner knows what to say, where the limits are, and when to call in professional help. That’s exactly what you’ll learn.
Meet Carlos – from our Ready for Reentry Course
“Rock bottom was the only way up.”
Carlos Vasquez came home determined to stay free. Hear how honesty, inner change, and the right people made the difference.
From coast to coast
Inmates in facilities across the country are preparing their reentry plans right now.
Each one is preparing for the day they come home — and hoping a trained, steady partner is preparing too.
Who this is for
If you want people coming home from prison to make it, you belong here.
Churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and spiritual communities of every tradition. Seasoned reentry professionals. Returning citizens and their families. Neighbors who simply want to help.
You don’t need experience, credentials, or a team behind you. If you’re willing to walk with one person, we’ll teach you the rest.
Faith communities
Come alone or bring a few people from your congregation. You’ll head home on the same page, with a simple way to get your whole community involved.
Reentry professionals
You’ve seen what happens when volunteers mean well but don’t know the job. Help us raise the bar, and meet trained partners who make your work easier, not harder.
Returning citizens & families
Nobody understands this journey better than you. Come share what actually helps, and pick up tools for supporting a loved one through their own reentry.
Individual volunteers
No church membership required. Just you, a weekend of training, and a role you can feel confident stepping into.
Your presenters
Learn from returning citizens, ministry leaders, and reentry partners.
Every session is led by people who know this work firsthand.
Sister Mary Sean Hodges
Sister Mary has spent decades helping people prepare for parole and walking beside them when they come home. Few people alive know this work better.
Richard Miles
Richard rebuilt his life after prison and now helps others do the same. He speaks honestly about what lasting change takes, and what most people get wrong about it.
Carlos Vasquez
Carlos hit rock bottom before he found his way up. His story, featured in the Ready for Reentry course, shows why the right support at the right time matters so much.
Rob Smith
Rob knows what makes volunteers genuinely helpful, and what quietly wears them out. He teaches teams how to support people well without overreaching.
Rey Aguilar
Rey works where reentry actually happens: neighborhoods, waiting rooms, front porches. He knows the difference between support that sounds good and support that shows up.
Amanda Weitman
Amanda volunteers at San Quentin and brings a grounded volunteer perspective on what faith, dignity, and steady presence can mean inside prison. She helps people think more deeply about how to truly show up.
David Fowler
David leads Embraced:Fully and has spent years connecting people inside prison with communities ready to welcome them home. He’ll share where this movement is headed.
Gabriel Serafini
Gabriel builds the tools behind Ready for Reentry: the course, the platform, and the systems that turn a good weekend into lasting local action.
The training
What you’ll learn in the Foundations training.
Everyone trains together: twelve hours over two days of short teaching, honest conversation, real practice, and planning. No prerequisites, no tracks to pick, nothing to prepare in advance.
The real world of reentry
What release actually feels like, why the first 72 hours and first 90 days matter, and where things most often fall apart.
The Partner role
What you’ll do as a partner, and just as important, what you won’t. Knowing your lane is what makes this role doable.
Trust and dignity
How to listen without judging, earn trust that’s been broken before, and keep showing up when someone pulls away.
Boundaries and red flags
How to help without taking over, spot trouble early, and know when it’s time to bring in someone with more training to assist.
Practical support
The everyday help that steadies those first months: rides, appointments, follow-through, and connecting people to professionals who can do what you can’t.
Your first 90 days
Your plan for after the conference: how you’ll start, who you’ll invite to join you, and what your first steps look like back home.
The agenda
What the weekend looks like.
Friday builds the framework. Saturday turns it into coached practice, real-world planning, and a clear launch plan. Online participants join every session live on Zoom. Special music from Love Only Grows is woven throughout both days.
What to expect
Short teaching, table conversations, real practice, and honest stories from people who’ve lived it. Plus good breaks and shared meals in person.
- No marathon lectures
- Practice on both days
- Returning citizens teaching throughout
- Live music throughout the weekend from Love Only Grows
- Time to plan your next step
Traveling in?
Plan to arrive Thursday evening, September 17. Training begins Friday morning and closes with commissioning late Saturday afternoon. The conference hotel block makes this easy — details below.
Foundations Day
The shared core: reentry reality, the Partner role, trust-building, boundaries, and warm handoffs.
Practice + Launch Day
Coached practice, lived experience, real-life support planning, and the plan you’ll carry home.
Registration
Pay what you can. No one is turned away.
Generous donors keep this conference pay-what-you-can, because money should never keep the right person out of the room. If you’re able, the suggested amount covers your meals and materials, and helps hold a seat open for someone else.
Every registration includes
- The full two-day Foundations training, all twelve hours
- Workbook and take-home guides
- Time to build your personal 90-day plan
- Ready for Reentry Partner Foundations Certificate of Completion
- In person: lunch both days, plus coffee and snacks throughout
- Online: every session live on Zoom
Coming as a group from your congregation or organization? Wonderful. Register everyone at whatever level works, and you’ll go home on the same page with one plan.
Choose how you’ll join us
Both paths complete the same training and earn the same certificate.
Help make the conference possible
Sponsorships start at $350. You can also sponsor travel for a speaker or returning community member, or sponsor as a congregation. Every dollar keeps registration pay-what-you-can for everyone.
Venue + hotel
Plan your trip to Boulder.
University of Colorado Boulder
The training takes place on the CU Boulder campus, September 18–19. We’ll send registered attendees the specific building and parking details as soon as they’re confirmed.
Traveling in? Plan to arrive Thursday evening, September 17 — training begins Friday at 8:30 am.
Conference hotel block
We’ve secured a group rate at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Boulder. Book before the August 24, 2026 cutoff to get the conference rate.
Before you make plans
Common questions
Do I need to be part of a church or congregation?
No. Faith communities of every tradition are warmly invited, and so are neighbors with no religious affiliation at all. Everyone trains together.
Can I really attend online?
Yes. Online participants join every session live on Zoom, take part in the exercises, and earn the same Certificate of Completion as in-person attendees.
What does it cost?
Whatever you can pay. Suggested registration is $295 in person (meals included) or $125 online — but the amount is up to you, and no one is turned away.
What does the certificate mean?
It shows you completed 12 hours of live training as a reentry support volunteer. It’s not a professional license, and it doesn’t need to be. You’ll know your role, and you’ll know your limits.
I already work in reentry. What’s here for me?
Volunteers who understand their lane, trained to work with you instead of around you. Come meet the faith communities that want to support your work, and help shape how they do it.
What happens after the weekend?
You leave with your own 90-day plan, and we follow up to help you put it into practice, including ways to bring others from your community along with you.
Come ready to learn. Leave ready to act.
Join us for two days in Boulder, or online from anywhere. Thousands of people are doing the work inside, hoping somebody like you is getting ready to meet them outside.
