The Power of Proximity: Funding Organizations That Know the Work from the Inside Out**

By Cecilia Zavala, Executive Director, Nation Outside

Last week in Boston, I found myself sitting beside leaders and funders from across the country—people who shape the trajectory of our justice system, public safety landscape, and the possibilities available to those returning home from incarceration. Earlier that morning, musician John Legend held a private conversation with our fellowship cohort, asking a simple but profound question:

“What do you most want funders to understand?”

When it was my turn to speak, I drew from years of being on the ground, serving my community, and building programs driven by lived experience. I shared what so many of us know to be true:

The field cannot continue asking community-rooted organizations to deliver long-term systemic impact on short-term, year-to-year dollars.

I spoke about the reality that organizations like ours — those built and led by people who understand the justice system from the inside out — are not simply service providers. We are innovators, system navigators, culture shifters, and drivers of public safety and economic mobility.

A few hours later, when John Legend repeated my words back to an entire room of funders, including some of the most influential philanthropic leaders in the country, something shifted. It wasn’t the validation of being quoted by a public figure. It was hearing the truth of our work — and the urgency of the investment it requires — spoken aloud in a space with the power to change the trajectory of communities like ours.

This is a defining moment for philanthropy.

If funders want to advance mobility, increase safety, reduce incarceration, and invest in solutions that actually work, they must resource the organizations delivering those outcomes — not as short-term grantees, but as long-term partners.

The Proof Is Clear — and the Potential for Scale Is Even Greater

When we first imagined what trauma-informed, peer-led reentry (TIPLR) could look like at scale, it was a bold idea rooted in lived experience and community knowledge.

Today, that idea has grown into a statewide model demonstrating strong outcomes and even stronger potential.

From May 2024 to August 2025, Nation Outside’s Trauma-Informed Peer-Led Reentry (TIPLR) program has: 

• Supported 886 people returning home from incarceration across Michigan

• Delivered 11,655 individualized services, including coaching, reentry planning, crisis intervention, and pro-social activities

• Achieved a 97% avoidance of reincarceration among participants during the pilot period

• Completed 750 prison-release transports and more than 4,658 transportation hours, reducing MDOC staffing burdens and saving $373,000+ in direct costs

• Demonstrated consistency across counties of different sizes and needs, showing strong feasibility for statewide and national scalability

  
  

What our data shows is clear:when people returning home are supported by trained peers with lived experience, the outcomes are stronger, more cost-effective, and more sustainable.

The evidence from our work in Michigan shows that TIPLR is a highly promising, community-rooted reentry model with the potential for large-scale impact if properly resourced.

Behind each outcome is a person rebuilding their life — a parent reconnecting with their children, someone securing housing or employment, or a community becoming safer and more stable through supportive relationships.

Fund What Works, and Fund it for the Long Haul

During the fellowship conversation, I shared something that resonated deeply with the room:

“Organizations led by people with lived experience are consistently delivering the most effective, cost-saving, community-stabilizing outcomes — yet these organizations are often funded last and funded least. If funders want real public safety, economic mobility, and systems change, they must invest in organizations that are closest to the problem and closest to the solutions.”

This isn’t rhetoric. It’s evidence-based.It’s cost-effective.And it is the future of justice reform.

Organizations like Nation Outside are not just responding to the failures of the system — we are building the replacements.

But to take the next step, we need multi-year, flexible, institutional investments. Funding that strengthens infrastructure, grows staff capacity, builds data systems, and supports scaling — not just surviving.

A Moment for Philanthropy to Lead With Vision

I left Boston with gratitude for every funder who has walked with us — from early champions to partners like New Profit, who continue to open doors and amplify this work.

But I also left with clarity:

TIPLR is no longer a pilot.It is a statewide proof of concept with outcomes strong enough to influence policy, reshape reentry infrastructure, and serve as a national model.

What we need now is partnership at scale.

Let’s Build What Comes Next — Together

Nation Outside stands ready.Our model is ready.Our impact is measurable, cost-saving, human-centered, and transformative.

If you believe in community-rooted leadership, evidence-driven public safety, and systems change powered by lived experience, we welcome the opportunity to connect.

Now is the time to invest boldly in what works — and build the future our communities deserve.