About this Event
Coming Home to Health: Availability Is Not Accessibility is a community health symposium presented by Out For Justice in partnership with Morgan State University’s Center for Urban Health Equity and CareFirst and the Baltimore Ravens’ Huddle Up For Health initiative.
Coming home from incarceration is often described as “reentry.” But what does it actually take to come home, rebuild your life, care for your health, and thrive? Out For Justice and Morgan State University set out to better understand that question directly from people who have experienced it. Through community-based research, including six listening sessions with 49 justice-impacted Baltimore City residents, the project examined the connections between reentry, health, well-being, community conditions, and access to support.
What emerged is a picture of coming home shaped by much more than whether resources exist. Participants described navigating housing, employment, transportation, health care, food access, technology, stigma, relationships, and other needs at the same time—often across systems that are difficult to navigate and disconnected from one another.
The symposium brings together returning neighbors, community leaders, researchers, service providers, health leaders, policymakers, advocates, funders, and other Baltimore stakeholders to move from what the research tells us to what we can do about it. The evening begins with a 5:30 PM community mixer, creating space to connect across sectors and build relationships. At 6:30 PM, community researchers and Morgan State University partners will share findings from the assessment and invite participants to bring their own experience and expertise into the conversation.
This is more than a research presentation. Together, we will consider a larger question: What would have to change so that successfully coming home does not depend on a person’s ability to navigate fragmented systems on their own?
The goal is to leave with more than greater awareness. The conversation will identify priorities for action, opportunities for partnership, and practical ways institutions and communities can make resources more accessible, strengthen trusted networks of support, and improve the conditions that shape health, well-being, and successful reintegration.
Because coming home should not mean navigating everything alone.
Event venue & nearby stays
1101 Russell St, 1101 Russell Street, Baltimore, United States
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