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Mission Statement

Our goal with Everything I Am is to bring awareness to a crisis that has been ignored in our nation. Recidivism has plagued our country for generations, and the reality is much more complicated than the Bureau of Justice makes it out to seem. The tendency to relapse into a condition or mode of behavior can be challenging to understand. Still, for those with a criminal past, it can be impossible to find success in re-entry. We at I Am Everything I Am aim to be more than a brand, but a community for people of all walks of life to come to and be accepted no matter their past. We understand that when it comes to changing your life, studies show it is important that returning citizens continue to see the effect of positivity in the community around them.

 Recidivism Facts:

• The latest [Government study of recidivism] reported that 83% of state prisoners were arrested at some point in the 9 years following their release. A large majority of those were arrested within the first 3 years, and more than 50% get rearrested within the first year.

• Studies show that prison programs which provide institutional programming have lower recidivism rates among those who are released. 

  Programs for the incarcerated, such as anger management, vocational skills training, educational opportunities, and even trauma support groups, are vital to ensuring inmates who are reintroduced to society have the life skills necessary to stay on the right path. For example, participants in prison substance abuse programs recidivate at a much lower rate than those who do not participate.

• Sixty-eight percent of prisoners had been arrested for a new crime 3 years after release, while 79% of prisoners were arrested after 6 years following release. At the end of the 9-year follow-up period, the percentage of prisoners arrested after release increased to 83%.