Re-Entry Community Linkages (RE-LINK) is an initiative that connects the public health system and community support system work together to implement a model transition process for young adults discharged from regional jails who are returning to the community. RE-LINK connects clients to community-based organizations that provide support and access to health care, health care coverage, behavioral health, substance use, and social service supports. RE-LINK is funded by the St. Louis County Department of Public Health.
What It Is
Key Impact
72%
Appointment kept rate:
employment readiness, social
support & medical services
97%
of the program participants
have not returned to jail
$1,331,766
Approximate cost savings
for the City of
St. Louis
278%
Approximate return on
investment
87%
Program participants
with a substance
use history
35%
indicated substance use
was triggered by
mental distress
Goals
- Improved coordination and linkages among criminal justice, public health, social service, and private entities to address health care and health care access of community re-entrants
- Reduce health disparities experienced by the reentry and justice-involved
population - Increase access to needed public health, behavioral health, health care coverage, and social services
- Reduced recidivism
Supports Offered
Health care coverage (e.g. Gateway to Better Health enrollment), Health care services,
Mental and behavioral health services, and Social service supports (Housing, Substance
abuse, Employment assistance, Adult education, Others as identified) through the
utilization of a Health and Social Services Network.
In The News
Yale New Haven – Cops and Clinicians Exchange 1
Yale New Haven – Cops and Clinicians Exchange 2
Families USA Conference with Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker
Self Love Ambassadors Impact the World
Change in how Missouri handles inmates on Medicaid could prevent
their return to jail, advocates say
Population Served
Minority and economically and environmentally disadvantaged reentrants, ages 18-45, that are discharged from St. Louis County jail to the community
Eligibility Requirements
- Meet age requirements
- Released from St. Louis County jail
- No known holds
- Accepts client self-referrals via jail resident tablet access
Community Health Worker Model
Community Health Workers are workers who provide cultural mediation between health care and social services and their communities. CHWs serves as an empowerment coach, mediator, advocate, and systems navigator to support reentrants with connections to providers. Linkages address clinical, social, and personal needs to meet reentrant’s goals and create and sustain self-actualization.
Key Partners
- Affinia Healthcare
- Behavioral Health Network
- Betty Jean Kerr People’s Health Center
- CareSTL Health
- Center for Women in Transition
- City of St. Louis Department of Health
- City of St. Louis Justice Center
- City of St. Louis Mayor’s Office
- Criminal Justice Ministry
- Employment Connection
- Family Care Health Centers
- Father’s Support Center
- Mission: St. Louis
- Missouri Board of Probation and Parole
- Places for People
- Preferred Family Healthcare/Bridgeway Behavioral Health
- St. Louis City, Mental Health Board
- St. Louis Alliance for Reentry
- St. Louis University Occupational Therapy, Transformative Justice Initiative (Jail Reentry Collaborative with DOC)
- The SPOT
- Washington University Evaluation Center