HOPE Letters
"HOPE Letters is a pathway to safely developing healthy mentoring relationships through correspondence with individuals who are experiencing some type of incarceration. . . HOPE Letters was initiated by Grace UMC in Dayton, Ohio, as a reentry pilot program to provide hope and guidance through regular correspondence to men and women who are incarcerated in Ohio’s State Prisons.
Today, HOPE Letters builds faith-based relationships that ease the transition from prison to community and provides a supportive HOPE Letters reentry community for returning neighbors. HOPE Letters provides a restorative pathway for addressing mass incarceration at the grass roots level. The goal is to increase the likelihood that “inside” HOPE Letter recipients find wholeness and meaning while incarcerated, and when released, they will permanently reintegrate into the community as supported, restored, productive citizens."
Rev. Dr. Amelia Boomershine, Mr. James Clay and edited by Reba Collins.
ARCH works with volunteers to initiate HOPE Letter groups. We walk groups through the process and connect volunteers with letter-writing mentors who can answer questions about reentry.
HOPE Letters is a bridge between inside and out. It inspires hope and connection in those who are incarcerated, and educates those outside on the realities of reentry.