Outreach & Mentoring
Our Outreach & Mentoring program is an essential Restorative Justice program that aims to share God’s love with those in recovery and reentry and connect them with faith communities. More than 2,000 citizens reenter Summit County communities following incarceration each year, often through transitional programs that help them succeed through positive change. This is where we meet the men and women who are ready to disrupt destructive patterns, repair harm, and make a fresh start.
Our Team Leaders
Renee Cox, Chaplain, Women’s Outreach & Mentoring
Kurt Cox, Chaplain, Men’s Outreach & Mentoring
Kurt Cox is a Chaplain and director of the men’s Outreach & Mentoring program. His wife, Renee Cox, serves alongside him as the director of our women’s Outreach & Mentoring program.
They provide mentoring, and conduct worship services and bible study classes.
Executive director, Dennis Shawhan, and more than 10 volunteers support this essential program by serving as Chaplains, mentors, and teachers.
Together, they help people in our community overcome patterns of substance abuse and incarceration through faith-based education and life-skill practices.
How Outreach & Mentoring Works
Each week, we serve hundreds of men and women through seven facilities.
We currently serve Oriana House, Clifford Skeen Community-Based Correctional Facility for Women (CBCF), Residential Correctional Center, and the Special Housing Adjustment Residential Program (SHARP) for Men.
We collaborate with the judicial system, law enforcement, government leaders, local churches, healthcare providers, the Department of Job and Family Services, and countless community partners.
Our Wrap-Around Approach
Our wrap-around approach includes mentoring, advocacy, and identity restoration.
Having a trusted mentor helps restore a vital sense of personhood and helps people connect with the community in a new way.
A Barna Research study found that most former offenders who are mentored are unlikely to commit a crime in the future.
We also serve as advocates and liaisons to help returning citizens connect with vital reentry services, such as obtaining a new state ID or driver’s license, developing financial literacy skills, creating a work schedule, and addressing immediate healthcare needs.
Contact Us
Contact us to learn more about our Outreach & Mentoring program and how to become a volunteer.
