When Marcy heard from a cellmate about a place that could help get her life together, she didn’t believe it. She was used to people telling her no.
She walked out of the Oklahoma County jail to find a green-logoed shuttle waiting to take her to Diversion Hub on NW 10 and Robinson Avenue. Fifteen minutes later, she sat in a private appointment room, eating a hot meal and talking to a case manager about the shape of her future.
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That case manager is Dale Edwards, a 30-year veteran social worker and Oklahoma City native whose joy comes from helping clients find their own happiness. Selflessness runs in Dale’s genes; his mother had a successful career in social work, as well.
Dale took Marcy to the clothing closet in a back room at Diversion Hub to pick out an outfit and hygiene products. All she owned was what she wore coming out of jail. He introduced her to on-site community partners offering services at Diversion Hub so she could get identification, enroll in food and health benefits, and find housing. She made an appointment with Red Rock for mental health treatment. Dale connected her to a justice navigator, who talked her through the court process. At the end of the meeting, Dale explained that they’d work with another community partner to find her sustainable employment. She left with a bed in a sober living facility, a phone and a plan that gave her hope things would get better.
Dale is able to help Marcy and others like her with the support of a Boeing Global Engagement grant. As Diversion Hub grows, partners like Boeing help us interrupt the cycle of incarceration. At the heart of this work is economic mobility, a trajectory enabled by the dedication of frontline social workers.
Economic mobility starts when a case manager like Dale welcomes a client without judgment. Dale helps vulnerable Oklahomans gain the momentum they need for change. This momentum is profoundly difficult to achieve without help. A person lacking a stable income or identification documents, entangled in criminal legal trouble and bombarded by sanctions, is set up to fail. Now, and again, and again.
Diversion Hub serves over 2,000 clients annually, many of whom, like Marcy, need long-term help to overcome chronic problems. Some of these problems are intergenerational poverty and systemic racism, which trap people in a cycle of incarceration and degrade economic mobility.
The path to economic mobility starts with meeting a person’s basic needs. It starts with a warm welcome and a conversation. When punishment is a system’s sole response to need, the people caught in that system become used to hearing no. It’s hard to trust when someone finally says yes.
Diversion Hub says yes. We’re proud to partner with others to help our clients transform their lives.
Meagan Taylor, a lifelong advocate for criminal justice reform, serves as executive director of the Oklahoma County Diversion Hub.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Public-private partnerships help Diversion Hub break incarceration cycle