Bringing the national Institute of Corrections’ (NIC’s) TPC Reentry Handbook to press has been a challeng­ing undertaking.The effort has drawn on the work of so many practitioners, researchers, funders, policy-makers, thinkers, and leaders that it seems an almost impossible task to acknowledge everyone to whom it is indebted.

NIC’s Transition from Prison to the Community (TPC) Initiative has undertaken the formidable tasks of:

• Widening the focus of corrections from custody, security, and compliance to include reducing the likelihood of reoffending as a community safety strategy.
• Suggesting that the functions of prisons, release, and postrelease supervision should work collaboratively.
• Insisting that interventions with offenders comport with the principles of evidence-based practice.
• Encouraging the use of good information, monitoring, and evaluation to guide policy and practice.
• Demanding that measurable outcomes be defined—and that they be measured.
• Encouraging corrections agencies to invite other stakeholders (service providers, victim advocates, community organizations, and others) to come to the table and work collaboratively on the challenge of transition and reentry.

NIC must be recognized for its vision and leadership in identifying the need and focus for the TPC Initiative. At first, Cranston Mitchell, and then, Kermit Humphries of NIC have led and guided the work with great skill and competence. NIC’s Cooperative agreement Partner, Abt Associates, in particular Dale Parent and Liz Barnett, deserve recognition for their clear thinking and the inclusive process they used to seek input and guidance for developing the model. As implementation proceeded, the work of the technical assistance team led by the Center for Effective Public Policy was immensely critical in carrying the ideas of the model forward, and in working with the states to shape and adapt its content to be helpful in practical ways. That team, including my colleagues Madeline Carter, Becki Ney, Paul Herman, Gary Kempker, and Richard Stroker at the Center, along with Donna Reback, Bill Woodward, and Elyse Clawson of the Crime and Justice Institute, and Jeff Padden, Le’ann Duran, and Paul Elam of Public Policy associates, all deserve recognition for their work. Richard Stroker, in particular, made significant contributions to the drafting of chapter 4 about implementation of the model. Tim Bynum and Scott Decker provided important guidance that shaped the Initiative’s approach to measurement and evaluation strategies.

Most of all, of course, we must acknowledge the “stakeholders” in the eight participating states who came to the table to do the hard work of system change. In particular the leaders and chairs of change teams, as well as the staff who supported the work in each state, were critical to the Initiative and to the develop­ment of this handbook. It is impossible to name them all, but without their passion, dedication, hard work, and creativity, this handbook would not have been written. More importantly, the basic system change taking place in those states could never have happened.

A key aspect of the cooperative agreement for technical assistance with the Center for Effective Public Policy was the naming of a site coordinator to work with each of the states, advise them on the formation of teams, and facilitate their progress through the steps of the TPC implementation strategy. Following are the individuals and organizational partners assigned as site coordinators over the course of the effort:

• Georgia: Richard Stroker, Senior Manager, Center for Effective Public Policy
• Indiana: Elyse Clawson, Law and Justice Institute, and Gary Kempker, Senior Manager, Center for Effective Public Policy
• Michigan: Jeff Padden, Le’ann Duran, and Paul Elam, Public Policy associates, and Becki Ney, Principal, Center for Effective Public Policy
• Missouri: Paul Herman, Senior Manager, Center for Effective Public Policy
• New York: Donna Reback, Criminal Justice Consultant
• North Dakota: William Woodward, Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, University of Colorado
• Oregon: Peggy Burke, Principal, Center for Effective Public Policy
• Rhode Island: Madeline Carter, Principal, Center for Effective Public Policy

Peggy Burke
Project Director
Center for Effective Public Policy