Empower 180 exists to provide culturally rooted, faith-forward, trauma-informed, and evidence-based reentry support for Native women transitioning from incarceration to community.
Montana has the 2nd highest women’s incarceration rate in the world.¹ Native women make up almost 40% of that population², and it is estimated that 90% of these women are mothers. Too often, women are released back into the community without the essential support needed to stabilize, making the first weeks and months after release the most vulnerable time for returning to incarceration. As a result, about 33% of women return to prison within three years, and that number is estimated to be even higher for the Native population.²
We can change this. When women have practical support, trauma-informed tools, and a healthy community around them, they are far more likely to stabilize, stay out, and build a different future. That means mothers raising their children, families strengthened, cycles of incarceration and poverty disrupted, and women stepping into stability, purpose, and leadership in their communities.
¹ States of Women’s Incarceration: The Global Context 2025, Prison Policy Initiative. Available at: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/global/women/2025.html.
²Montana Department of Corrections 2023 Biennial Report. Montana COR. Available at: https://cor.mt.gov/LegislativeAgencyMaterials/2023/2023-All-Agency-Materials/2023-Biennial-report.pdf.
The first weeks after release are critical. This transition period has historically lacked wraparound support. Common gaps include stable housing, transportation, food, a phone, clothing and essentials, identification, and a healthy support network—especially for women carrying significant trauma and returning to communities with limited resources. Empower 180 helps women stabilize by addressing the essential, practical needs required to survive and stay on track—while building the connections that support long-term resilience. When women are supported early, recidivism goes down, and desistance goes up.
Access to season-appropriate clothing and basic essentials helps women show up with dignity—ready for work, appointments, and daily life.
Support to pursue stable work, prepare for employment steps, and reduce barriers that can derail momentum early on.
Assistance navigating the steps to secure key documents like an ID, Social Security card, and birth certificate—often a requirement for employment, housing, and services.
Help accessing transportation options to get to work, required appointments, treatment, and support—especially when a license or vehicle isn’t immediately available.
Support navigating safe, stable housing options—because stability starts with a secure place to sleep.
Many come out of prison on medication, and they need to continue it for their mental/physical health.
Help connecting to reliable food resources so women can focus on recovery and stability instead of survival panic.
Access to season-appropriate clothing and basic essentials helps women show up with dignity—ready for work, appointments, and daily life.
Support to pursue stable work, prepare for employment steps, and reduce barriers that can derail momentum early on.
Assistance navigating the steps to secure key documents like an ID, Social Security card, and birth certificate—often a requirement for employment, housing, and services.
Help accessing transportation options to get to work, required appointments, treatment, and support—especially when a license or vehicle isn’t immediately available.
Support navigating safe, stable housing options—because stability starts with a secure place to sleep.
Many come out of prison on medication, and they need to continue it for their mental/physical health.
Help connecting to reliable food resources so women can focus on recovery and stability instead of survival panic.
Empower 180 meets women at the most critical points of reentry—preparing them before release, supporting them through the first 48 hours, and providing continued mentorship for long-term stability.
Reentry is a process, not a moment. The highest-risk window often comes in the first weeks and months after release, when immediate needs, trauma triggers, and barriers can quickly overwhelm.
That’s why Empower 180 offers a continuum of care—practical support, trauma-informed, evidence-based tools, and culturally rooted, faith-forward mentorship—so women can build resilient foundations and move toward healthy, thriving lives.
A structured class inside the facility designed to help women prepare for reentry with a realistic plan—addressing immediate needs, identifying triggers, building regulation skills, and preparing for parole-related expectations.
Hands-on stabilization during the first day out—helping women navigate critical first steps, reduce overwhelm, and connect to the resources and support needed to stay grounded and safe.
Ongoing culturally sensitive, and faith-forward mentorship that supports identity, resilience, and healthy community connection—so women can move from survival mode into stability, growth, and long-term success.
When Shannon walked out of prison after 32 months of incarceration, she knew she didn’t want to return to the life she had left behind—but she also knew she couldn’t do this season alone.
Shannon had been sober for nearly three years from heroin, opiates, meth, and alcohol. She loved God, owned a Bible, and had a genuine desire to live differently—but reentry brought overwhelming challenges all at once: probation requirements, transportation barriers, job uncertainty, medical and mental health appointments, unresolved fines across multiple counties, and constant exposure to people from her past life who were still actively using.
On January 21, 2025, Shannon became the first official client of Empower 180.
From day one, the focus was not just compliance—but stability, structure, identity, and hope.
I built Empower 180 to close the gap between what women need to succeed—and what’s actually available to them when they walk out the gate.
I work with justice-involved women, especially Indigenous women, and I collaborate with community partners and decision-makers because I want solutions that last. I’ve learned how to speak both languages: the language of policy and process—and the language of lived experience, grief, trauma, and resilience.
My goal is not to fight the system. It’s to change outcomes. And that means showing up with a plan that’s practical, trauma-informed, culturally rooted, and built on dignity—so women can stabilize, rebuild, and stay out.
Empower 180 is built on collaboration. We work alongside community partners and stakeholders to close critical reentry gaps and strengthen outcomes for women returning to the community.
This guide brings key reentry resources into one place, so women and their support teams can quickly find what they need in the first days and weeks after release. It includes practical contacts across essential areas like identification, housing, food, employment, transportation, healthcare, recovery, and support networks.
Empower 180 uses this guide as part of reentry planning to help women take the next right step and build stability. Download the guide to share with partner organizations, case managers, families, and anyone supporting women transitioning back into the community.
Empower 180 partners with organizations and stakeholders who want to close critical reentry gaps and improve long-term outcomes for women returning to community. If you are interested in collaborating, making referrals, or exploring ways to work together, we would love to connect.
