Get Connected History!

 

Welcome to Get Connected Website!

Tretara Flowers is the Founder and Executive Director of Get Connected. 
Get Connected NON-PROFIT was founded November 12,2019.
Our Mission is to HELP those impacted by incarceration to re-enter the community successfully & self-sustainably!
In order to eliminate real-life barriers due to former incarceration
GC envisions being the epitome of true visionaries. Building a well-connected reentry community who eliminates barriers to entry while providing resource education, evidence base practices, and soft skills. Our vision is to merge formerly incarcerated adults as well as their families back into the community. Providing each individual multiple styles of reentry services to support their re-entry journey.
Get Connected Executive Director and Founder has provided reentry services to the Rockford Region for more than 10 years before before forming the Not for Profit.
Once Get Connected was formed in late 2019, ED Tretara Flowers and the GC Board of Directors worked very hard over the next year to get GC in legal compliance and learn how to properly operate a nonprofit together as an organization!
GC obtained its 501 (c)3  Tax Exemption Status by the IRS and  
began it's partnerships with Prairie State Legal Services in March 2021, bringing Sealing & Expungement Workshops to our local community of formerly impacted individuals.
In April of 2021, GC partnered with New Zion Baptist Church to volunteer services as a Client Advocate who helps the Administer Justice Gospel Legal Clinic provide assistance in Civil Legal matters. click here to learn more. Also in April 2021, GC connected with Northern Illinois Center for Nonprofit Excellence NICNE to Co-facilitate Courageous Conversations around Race, BIPOC, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion!
 
Juneteenth 2021, GC began a partnership with Panera Bread to distribute bread donations to those impacted. Also, on Juneteenth 2021 GC developed GAME ON which hosts the Nonprofit Grassroots University NGU. The university provides mentorship and training to NFP's to help them achieve knowledge and sustainability.
In October 2021, Get Connected entered a partnership with the Winnebago County Criminal Justice Initiatives Office of Chairman Joe Chiarelli. The mission is to serve those high-risk of recidivism through the Focused Deterrence Re-entry Program. The latter reentry program deploys a Navigator to assist participants with concentrated services to help eliminate barriers. 
In November 2021, Get Connected entered a partnership with The Workforce Connection & Goodwill to offer a Work Experience (WeX) to formerly incarcerated participants who needed an opportunity to gain work experience on the job. Also in November 2021, GC launched its all New Podcast called Voices of Impact. The Podcast features, journey's, obstacles, and triumphs of those impacted by incarceration.
In December 2021, GC entered a partnership with the City of Rockford. Get Connected 815 provides support to the Mayor’s Office on Domestic and Community Violence Prevention (MODCVP) in implementing several strategies to address the gaps and barriers identified in The Mayor’s Office on Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking Community Gap Document.  Many gaps are related to the need for bolstered prevention and intervention of domestic and community violence concerning the youth living in our community. To better address these needs, Get Connected 815 assists the MODCVP as they organize and lead a coalition of agencies and grassroots groups who will develop goals, objectives and outcomes as they work to fill the gaps that have been identified and impact the violent crime in our community.
January 2022 GC Executive Director her new election to the Rockford Area Habitat for Humanities RAHFH Board of Director's. GC's Executive Director also volunteers on the DEI Committee with RAHFH.
January 17, 2022 MLK DAY, GC partnered with The Wright Way to bring a courageous conversation to troubled youth. The conversation, dubbed, Unity in the Community was attended by individuals with lived gang experience and affiliations. 
February 21, 2022, GC was appointed by the Illinois Department of Human Services to serve on the

 Rockford Local Advisory Council that has been established as a part of the Reimagine Public Safety Act (RPSA). Your selection for this important role is a testament to your significant contributions to violence prevention, youth development, and public health in your community.    

The Reimagine Public Safety Act, which became law in June 2021, was created in response to the State of Illinois' heightened experience of loss, harm, and trauma at the hands of firearm violence, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The law creates a comprehensive approach to ending Illinois' firearm violence through targeted, integrated behavioral health services and economic opportunities. The law also creates the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention (OFVP) at the Illinois Department of Human Services to address this multifaceted challenge.  

Also in February 2022, GC was awarded a grant in partnership of the Winnebago County Criminal Justice Initiatives!

Read More! here