This issue brief focuses on the efforts of 22 Pathway Home grantees (which received funds in 2021) to provide services to participants prior to their release from prison or jail. The brief is one of a series from an evaluation of the Pathway Home grant initiative (administered by the U.S. Department of Labor) which required services to be delivered to participants both before and after release from incarceration, ideally with the same case manager. Key findings in this brief include the following:

• During the planning phase grantees engaged with their correctional partners though visits to the facilities, meeting with the staff there, developing partnerships with facility and training provider partners, and creating informational materials to share with their facility partners. Grantees reported having to understand the facility policies and to tailor their programs to the facility’s preferred approach and practices, which was important for recruiting and screening participants as well as for coordinating the delivery of services.
• Grantees faced challenges—including COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and correctional staff shortages—when implementing Pathway Home services within the facilities. They worked to overcome such challenges by improving their communication with facility partners and adapting their service delivery plans, such as by moving to virtual services.
• Despite obstacles, most grantees and subgrantees (82 percent) reported providing case management services and pre-release employment services (such as developing individualized career plans and identifying employment barriers). Most grantees (82 percent) provided job and work readiness training, and more than half (59 percent) provided occupational and vocational skills training.

Other issue briefs provide information on the types of grantees and correctional facilities and on features of post-release services delivered in partnership with community organizations and employers.