Meet Restorative and Reentry Services, LLC

Cathleen’s passion is serving and advocating for individuals reentering the community after incarceration, as well as the homeless and under-served population. Cathleen has worked in law and advocacy throughout the past 35 years. In 2014, she became the Director of the Partners Reentry Center, a community-based walk-in reentry center in Anchorage, Alaska that provided timely pre- and post-release reentry services to vulnerable individuals who would otherwise release to homelessness. The Partners Reentry Center served over 8,400 reentrants with the goal of providing cost-effective reentrant-centered services in a respectful and positive way.

Cathleen’s experiences at Partners Reentry Center inspired her to open Restorative and Reentry Services, LLC (“RRS”) in 2016, which was created to provide guidance to communities around the United States that seek to create their own community-based reentry programs.

In April of 2020 during the COVID pandemic, RRS was hired to manage the emergency homeless shelter at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage for the operator, Beans Cafe. For a time during the height of the pandemic, it was the largest congregate shelter in the United States with over 400 residents. During that time, Cathleen initiated the “Shelter to Success” program (among others) to incentivize clients to earn their way out of the shelter and into progressively higher-level housing, together with accountability elements to make sure the program was not abused. At its peak, the Sullivan Arena emergency shelter and the Shelter to Success room program housed about 700 clients.

In March of 2023, RRS was hired by the Municipality of Anchorage to provide oversight of the Sullivan Arena emergency shelter and two hotels providing rooms for overflow in preparation for their expected closing. RRS is also advising about homeless policy going forward after closure of the Sullivan Arena and the two remaining hotels currently housing otherwise homeless individuals.

Cathleen received both her law degree and her MBA from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in History/Political Science from the University of Montana.

Emily has a history of working with high-needs individuals and families since 2011. Through platforms such as Head Start/Early Head Start, and the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School, Emily built a career serving highly vulnerable families with young children. In 2021, Emily had the opportunity to build a completely new program for the Anchorage School District called Play to Learn Playgroups. A program that targets families with high needs, and works to teach caregivers alongside the children in their care in order to proactively share tools and strategies to prevent or lessen the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences in the Anchorage Community.

After working with families and children for many years, Emily shifted to RRS to work specifically with unhoused individuals and families in July of 2024.

Emily specializes in trauma informed practices, generational trauma, and the effects of childhood trauma on the brain into adulthood.

Emily holds a bachelor’s degree in Foreign Languages and International Affairs from the University of Puget Sound, a Post-Baccalaureate in Early Childhood Education from University of Alaska Anchorage, and a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Western Governors University.