Seventy-five people were expected. One hundred and fifty arrived.
On September 10, elders, young people, and community leaders gathered in Honolulu for the Hoʻihoʻi i ke Ola Reentry Summit, hosted by New Breath Foundation (NBF) grantee partner ʻEkolu Mea Nui and co-host Project Vision Hawaiʻi. Four days later, 110 people participated in a Reentry Simulation in Maui, hosted by the Hawaiʻi Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (DCR)*, Maui Economic Opportunity (MEO), Speak Out and Up Law, and Project Vision Hawai’i.
Through our philanthropic collaboration with the Gerbode Foundation, NBF joined both gatherings to learn directly from community leaders and people impacted by incarceration about the resources, relationships, and systemic changes needed to support successful entry and inform how philanthropy can help advance those solutions.
Across both gatherings, one lesson stood out: successful reentry depends not only on individual choices, but also on how our communities and systems support stability, connection, and opportunity.
O’ahu: Reimagining What It Means to Come Home
At the Hoʻihoʻi i ke Ola Reentry Summit, community leaders with lived experience** challenged the idea that coming home is the finish line. Rebuilding relationships, reconnecting with culture, finding stability, and having opportunities to contribute to community are all part of building a meaningful life after incarceration.
During the panel “The Next Generation: Breaking the Cycle,” one young speaker asked, “What’s your normal?” He described growing up in an environment where stealing was normal if you lacked something. His question underscored how our surroundings shape what we believe is possible. For people to believe their efforts lead to opportunity, they need access to the stability and support that make opportunity available.
That means addressing barriers that extend beyond incarceration. Policies like Clean Slate can help prevent certain records from blocking access to jobs and housing. Cultural connection matters, as well. NBF grantee partner ʻOhana Hoʻopakele shared how it brings Native Hawaiian cultural practices into prisons, helping people reconnect with their identities and communities. Traditional dance, including ʻAi Haʻa, and singing brought that same sense of connection into the summit.
The gathering also explored how trust can bridge divides within the criminal legal system. In “From Opposite Sides to Common Ground,” NBF founder Eddy Zheng, a formerly incarcerated juvenile lifer, spoke with Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center’s Heather Lusk and Honolulu Police Chief Lazar about building relationships across different roles and experiences. Their conversation highlighted how mutual respect can create opportunities for collaboration and help people navigate systems they may otherwise fear or distrust.
While the summit explored what people need to rebuild their lives, the Maui simulation revealed how easily systems can make that process harder.
Maui: Experiencing the Barriers to Reentry
In Maui, attendees put Eddy’s reminder that we “need to walk in each other’s shoes to overcome silos” into practice through a Reentry Simulation. They navigated the first four weeks of reentry, with each week compressed into 15 minutes, while trying to complete everyday tasks and meet parole requirements.
Many participants had little or no money, no phone, and no identification. Some were sent back to the area designated as “jail” because they couldn’t afford transportation, pay for a required urine test, or contact their parole officer to explain their circumstances. The area quickly became overcrowded.
The simulation made visible how easily people can fall into a cycle of noncompliance when they lack the resources to meet requirements. What appears to be individual failure may instead reflect a system that demands accountability without ensuring that people have the means to succeed. For families and communities, these barriers can make it more difficult for people to rebuild their lives and sustain their return home.
Facilitators also highlighted gaps in community-based mental health care, including overcrowding at Hawaiʻi State Hospital and a lack of step-down facilities. When appropriate treatment and support are unavailable, people with serious and persistent mental illness may remain in jails and prisons rather than receive treatment that supports stability in the community.
The event brought together people involved in shaping these systems, including leaders from the prosecuting attorney’s office, intake, and parole, as well as state Representative Amy Perruso. Afterward, participants identified opportunities to improve pre-release planning and assigned responsibilities to individuals and organizations, holding the broader coalition accountable.
What Funders and Donors (of All Levels) Can Do to Support Successful Reentry
The lessons from Oʻahu and Maui point to several ways funders and donors can support successful reentry at both the individual and systems levels.
- Fund the leadership of people with lived experience. Support community-led organizations with flexible, multi-year funding and center lived experience in decision-making.
- Make the basics accessible from day one. Fund IDs, phones, transportation, and fees, alongside policy efforts like Clean Slate that reduce barriers to jobs and housing.
- Honor cultural practice. ʻOhana Hoʻopakele and ʻEkolu Mea Nui demonstrate how cultural connection can help people reconnect with their identities and communities, and that cultural practice is part of coming home.
- Build trust across silos. Support cross-sector convenings and bring a reentry simulation to your organization. Walking in someone else’s shoes can change what you fund and how you fund. Learn more through Penn State’s Restorative Justice Initiative.
- Invest in care, not just facilities. Expand community-based mental health treatment, step-down services, and supports that help people with serious mental illness live safely and with dignity outside jails and prisons.
- Provide the stability you want others to build. Reliable, multi-year funding helps community organizations sustain relationships, plan ahead, and pursue long-term change rather than continually responding to uncertainty.
Ultimately, reentry is about creating the conditions for people to heal, rebuild relationships, and return home with dignity. When communities invest in those conditions, they help create stronger pathways to belonging and opportunity for everyone.
At New Breath Foundation, we are committed to supporting community-based organizations and the leaders building pathways to healing and collective liberation.
Want to support Hawaiʻi’s reentry leaders? Contact development@new-breath.org to connect with New Breath Foundation and learn more about the organizations leading this work.
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*Although DCR co-hosted, the simulation was designed and led by justice-impacted leaders, in partnership with Penn State‘s Restorative Justice Initiative, which adapted its curriculum for the event.
**Lived experience refers to the personal, firsthand, and embodied knowledge a person gains from navigating the criminal legal systems.