Last November, Kerwin Pittman drove hours to Peachland, North Carolina — a town in Anson County — to buy a bus.
On the drive back to Raleigh, he said, he was just hoping it wouldn’t break down. After all, he had a big dream for it.
Three months later, he has transformed the once “old and dusty” bus into the state’s first Mobile Recidivism Reduction Center.
Inside are two seating areas, a media station with a tablet and printer, and shelves stocked with hygiene kits, cold-weather gear, and harm-reduction supplies. There’s even a bathroom and a microwave to heat food. Positive affirmations adorn every wall.
On board, people with histories of incarceration — who have become specialists on how to reenter their communities after being in prison or jail — are eager to help connect people to benefits like Medicaid and Social Security, mental health and substance use treatment, housing options, education, and much more. The goal is to provide the support people need to make a more successful transition from incarceration to the community.
Within the first two hours on the bus that first day, Pittman and two other reentry specialists served more than 50 people.
By the end of the day, they’d served close to 100.