From the gate to a future — every step.

WHAT WE DO

Beyond Bars wraps around women at every stage of reentry — starting before release and staying long after.

90 days before release

THE INSIDE-OUT Initiative

Building the foundation while still inside.

At 90 days before release, women at the Washington Corrections Center for Women begin working with Beyond Bars. By the time they walk out, they already have a plan.

  • Financial literacy — banking, benefits, bills

  • Technology skills for the outside

  • Peer support training

  • Psycho-social literacy — trauma, emotions, relationships

The first 72 hours

Meeting You at the Gate

The most critical window — you won't face it alone.

A peer support specialist who has been through it meets every woman at release and makes sure the essentials are in place: a safe place to sleep, ID, food, medications, and a clear plan for the days ahead.

Ongoing

Peer Support — Walking Alongside

The most critical window — you won't face it alone.

Someone who gets it — because they've lived it — walks alongside each woman as she builds her life on the outside. Whether that's a few weeks or a few years, the support is there.

Earning & growing

Merit Stipends + Peer Certification

From receiving support to leading it.

Merit stipends recognize the real work of rebuilding a life — this isn't charity. Alongside them, women earn the Certified Peer Support Specialist (CPSS) credential, recognized by Washington State. A door, not a ceiling.

Family

Family Support

Reuniting what was separated.

Beyond Bars helps women keep families together and repair those bonds during reentry. Dedicated family reunification programming through our partner, the Phoenix Family Project, is on the way.

Phoenix Family Project COMING SOON

Where
we work

Clallam, Jefferson & Kitsap Counties

The Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas of Washington — an underserved rural region with limited reentry infrastructure and no existing peer-led women's reentry organization.