LAWTON – For the past 12 years, the Oklahoma City-based nonprofit ReMerge has given mothers who are facing nonviolent felony charges a chance to turn their lives around.
“We’re the tool, and they are picking us up and changing their lives with the tool that’s been given to them,” said ReMerge Executive Director Jenna Morey.
Morey talked about ReMerge and its mission during the May 10 meeting of the Lawton Business Women’s Club. The club cohosted the event with the Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women, which advises city officials on issues facing women in Lawton-Fort Sill.
ReMerge’s story began in 2010, when the Inasmuch Foundation and United Way of Central Oklahoma brought 25 community leaders together to talk about Oklahoma’s incarceration rate for women and the trauma that a family experiences when their mother goes to prison, according to the organization’s website. The group identified an approach that would help women break the cycle of addiction, poverty and incarceration.
That discussion led to the creation of ReMerge, a pretrial diversion program for mothers who have been charged with a nonviolent felony in Oklahoma County but have not been convicted or lost their rights to their children. The program serves women who are likely to commit additional offenses if they do not receive intensive treatment, as well as those who are struggling with mental health issues or addiction.
“Research shows us that you can get the most bang for your buck in terms of making a difference for your community when you’re intervening at high-risk, high-need levels,” Morey said.
A four-phase program, ReMerge provides safe and sober housing, food, transportation and other services to help mothers get back on their feet. As clients move through each phase, they learn the skills they need to rebuild their lives.
When they graduate, clients are staying sober and living in safe and stable housing. They have been reunited with their children and are either working or looking for work.
ReMerge focuses on helping its clients find jobs because someone who isn’t working is more likely to go back to prison, Morey said.
“If I can’t get a job and my kiddos are waiting at home and they’re hungry, what am I supposed to do? What are my options?” she asked. “Of course I’m going to go try to sell drugs again, because I have to do something to take care of my family. And so, we want to make that not an option.”
Women who complete the program can apply to have their charges dismissed, which makes it easier for them to start a new chapter in their lives.
Over the past 12 years, ReMerge has saved the state about $78 million in incarceration costs and saved its clients from a combined 944 years in prison, Morey said.
“That is wasted human potential,” she said. “Our communities are better, and our communities are stronger when our neighbors are healthy and employed and being good parents.”