Restorative About
The prison system doesn't rehabilitate. We're the bridge to what comes after.
Restorative Roots exists for the gap nobody else is standing in — the first weeks and months after someone comes home.
The problem, plainly
Someone leaves prison with a release date, maybe a bus ticket, and not much else. No housing. Often no ID. No case manager who knows their name. The system that held them for years hands them back to the world with almost nothing to land on.
Formerly incarcerated people are almost ten times more likely to experience homelessness than the general public. And housing instability is one of the strongest predictors of whether someone ends up back inside. It's not that people don't want to change — it's that change is nearly impossible without somewhere stable to stand while they do it.
Our mission & approach
Restorative Roots provides housing and hands-on support to people returning home from incarceration, built around three things: Hope — mentors with lived experience who show change is possible. Healing — trauma-informed care for the person and their family. Housing — a real, stable place, not a shelter bed or a waiting list.
We measure success the way it should be measured: not by beds filled, but by leases signed, jobs kept, and families back together.
Our Story
Why this organization exists
Restorative Roots didn't start with a mission statement. It started with co-founders who had navigated the criminal justice system throughout their own lives, and who realized the hardest part of their sentence hadn't ended when they completed a program.
It's an ongoing, daily battle to restore your right to vote, to bear arms, or even to rent an apartment. Rehabilitation shouldn't be debilitation!
Governance
Led by a volunteer board
Restorative Roots is guided by a volunteer board of directors and community partners committed to reentry work in Northwest Arkansas. Board bios can go here once finalized.