OpenDoors
Direct Services
The OpenDoors Resource Center
Open Monday through Friday from 9 am to 4 pm
Our walk-in resource center, located at 841 Broad Street in Providence, accepts drop-in visits from any formerly incarcerated person. We maintain an up-to-date and comprehensive file of resources in major life areas such as housing, employment, education, medical, mental health, substance abuse, and transportation. Clients can use our telephone or computer lab to communicate with employers, family members, and probation or parole officers. Our resource center has a full schedule of programming, ranging from job readiness to financial literacy to support groups. We can also serve as a temporary address. Check the monthly calendar for more info.
Discharge Planning
Our Reentry Case Management program works with participants up to six months prior to release from prison. OpenDoors is contracted through the Rhode Island Department of Corrections (DOC) to provide discharge plans to inmates in the Men's Minimum Security Facility at the DOC. This is done in both individual and group formats in an attempt to reach as many as possible of the over 1,200 discharges per year from that facility. Individual 14-point plans addressing different life-areas are established for clients with longer sentences, while comprehensive written information on available services is provided to group participants who typically have short sentences. All clients are encouraged to follow up with us at our resource center.
Other programs include:
Employment Program - Basic Employment Seminar and Advanced Employment Program
Financial Literacy
Support Groups - Monthly Men's Support Group, Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous
Computer Classes
Housing Workshops
Civic Participation
Mentoring Program
OpenDoors is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to strengthen communities by supporting the formerly incarcerated. The organization's goals are to:
* Successfully reintegrate formerly incarcerated individuals by preparing them pre-release and supporting them during the post release period and beyond;
* Reduce recidivism by streamlining opportunities for ex-offenders to become integral members of the community and society, nurturing personal responsibility, and advocating for the removal of social and legal barriers to re-entry;
* Stabilize families of ex-offenders by providing services that build on individual and family strengths and needs; and
* Reinvest in communities and reduce incarceration rates by promoting investment in education, community development, and a smart-on-crime criminal justice approach.
The OpenDoors reentry program uses a holistic approach to support offenders as they prepare to leave prison, return home, and stabilize in the community. The agency's programs include discharge planning within MenÂ’s Minimum Security, policy and advocacy on criminal justice issues, our one-stop Resource Center, and our Employment Program. OpenDoors programs seek to ameliorate the condition of the poor and promote economic self-sufficiency by improving job-readiness, addressing barriers to employment, and teaching job-retention skills.
