The Gateway principle mission is to manage and operate a transition program based on “The Village” mission, that guides ex-offenders/returning citizens through a successful re-entry into their community. To further compliment The Village mission, Tracey L. Fisher developed Ten Steps for compliant behaviors that lead to a gainful re-entry.  For those re-entering, or those who wish to refrain from becoming incarcerated; there are Ten Steps to Re-Entry that an individual must embrace, implement and practice daily.

Gateway to Re-Entry, fulfills two over arching supporting goals addressing anti-violence. The first, is a program goal which is to intervene and disrupt the behavior pattern of violence by individuals most at-risk, the intervening action results in a greater opportunity to minimize the risk of, loss of life or injury from gun violence and ultimately achieve safer streets by reducing the threat.
Secondly, the implementation of Fisher’s personal life goal which is also embedded in the GtR organization; which is to embrace his given mission by providing viable avenues for at risk individuals to develop solid decision-making tools, so they can successfully navigate their life journey.

Tracey is known as The Face of Re-Entry. He created the Ten Steps to Re-Entry Program. He is a community activist engaging our youth with opportunities to hit the “re-set button” and to turn their lives around after being incarcerated. He is a graduate of Harcum College with an Associate Degree in Human Services.Tracey is a motivational speaker who speaks at prisons, churches, community organizations and has served on numerous panels. He is the author of “Mental Mentoring.

The GtR managerial approach is structured under “The Village” concept, a web-based management system. This program is built on a research-based framework that allows GtR to be measured based on projected (educational elements) milestones associated with its decline in recidivism, sustained communities and replicated use of “tool box contents”. The focus is to identify and combat challenges faced by the Mentees as they transition back into the community. The Village developed by The Fifth House (www.thefifthhouse.com) is an extremely innovative methodology that eliminates negative factors and reduces the risks of recidivism.
The mentoring program is the “gateway” to all the other re-entry programs. The success of the mentoring program is determined by metrics of those individuals who do not return to prison and milestones are determined by those who refrain from ever having an encounter with a correctional facility or institution.
The “Ten Steps to Re-Entry” is the foundation for any successful re-entry process. The foundation of the Ten Steps to Re-Entry is changing the way one perceives his/her place in the scheme of life. One has to change the way he/she thinks. The Mentoring Program engages a detailed developmental relationship between the Mentees and Mentors.
For the mentoring process to be successful, it has to support the Mentees professional and personal development. The Mentors incorporate a distinctive approach to first connect, then relate to the Mentees past experiences, to identify where the Mentees are now, and then, to assist in the formulation of a plan for future endeavors.

The ultimate goal is to form a bond of unconditional trust and mutual respect in the initial stages of the pre-release process while establishing a viable roadmap for the re-entry. Since 2018, and through today the GtR organization focuses on targeting: at-risk youth and ex-offenders, primarily in poverty stricken areas (inclusive of those re-entering society and those individuals who reside in at-risk environments, but desire to avoid incarceration).  Implementing prevention and preparedness measures of the emergency management cycle increases a communities capability to mitigate, against gun violence, gang recruitment and violence in general. Gateway recognizes that this City is in a crisis, such that the trending violence inflicted on communities, neighborhoods, families, individuals and our loved ones at heart, results in traumatic life altering experiences. Losing 447 loved ones to gun-related homicides in 2020 is the highest loss of life in 30 years.  At the root of this crisis, sits those primarily suffering from this crisis, they are Black men ages 15-43 and Latino men ages 15-31. Projecting a panoramic view of this continuing upward trend of gun violence, (and with more than 447 deaths in 2020; 1,289 people shot through July 20, 2021 and more than 300 deaths recorded as of July 16, 2021 from gun violence). Gateway to Re-Entry, implements actions and manages community activities so they can evolve to the recovery phase.

As a grass roots organization, over the years, GtR has strengthened its organizational capacity tremendously through donations and community awareness and involvement, community presence, partnership commitment, support and recognition from community businesses and collaborating with elected officials and more. As for organizational resources, its ownership of concrete materials and assets are minimal, GtR has always been able to find a community building to work from, such as Myers Recreation and the shared office space (studio) at 3751 Island Avenue. Currently GtR is fundraising to acquire a Safe Haven building for training and additional community events. Since 2018 the organizational skills of GtR has strengthened through establishing business protocols and practices by associating with and serving the neighborhoods with known community leaders. This effort is complimented by our team, and integrating a knowledge base of emergency management and expanding our support to the profession of mental health. GtR recognizes no matter how good we are doing, we always strive to do better. It’s a given that poverty and returning citizens sometimes mirror one another and we must continue the work to find the solutions to increase public safety and minimize poverty. The GtR relationships in the community, particularly with ministries and faith organizations, the connection and support from Brown Supermarkets, community engagements and collaborative partnerships over the years have given GtR the opportunity to expand its knowledge from an intra-organizational and inter-organizational perspective, such that GtR maintains the capacity to function as a premiere grass roots non-profit organization and will continue to develop.

October 29th. For tickets and more information, please click on the Gala Tickets button below.