Total Reentry Solutions App Designed to Break the Cycle of Incarceration

Inspired by personal struggles within the justice system, Lansing residents Katy Kelly and Jermaine Fields co-founded Total Reentry Solutions (TRS), a digital health platform that reimagines the reentry process for individuals returning from prison, offering personalized resources, mentorship programs, and community support to break the cycle of incarceration.

Written by Rich Keener

Katy Kelly and Jermaine Fields, Co-Founders of Total Reentry Solutions

In the summer of 2017, Lansing resident Katy Kelly confronted a daunting reality as her partner Jermaine Fields’ original six-month jail time was resentenced to a new term of two to twenty years in prison. This drastic change occurred due to a minor technical probation violation.

After spending a few days in prison, Fields was accepted into an intensive, 90-day bootcamp program that would provide an early release. Fields completed the program and was released from prison in the fall.

Two days before his release, however, he was told he would not be able to parole to the house he shared with Kelly and would instead parole to a homeless shelter—contradicting guarantees that Fields would be able to come home.

That was the beginning of many unwarranted and worrying troubles with the justice system Fields and Kelly experienced over the next two years of Fields’ parole.

The couple lost their housing twice, Kelly lost her job three times, and Fields returned to jail four times, all resulting from technical violations of his parole, which stated he could not have contact with Kelly or their children.

“I started to see how ineffective our system is,” Kelly recalled. “There came a point where I thought, ‘I’m either going to have to do something to try and change the system, or I’m just going to give up on humanity.’”

Realizing the second option was no option at all, Kelly took the advice of friend Jerry Norris, head of The Fledge (a small, Lansing-based regional business incubator), and entered a pitch competition put on by the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP).

“I had no idea what that was or what that meant,” Kelly said. “At the time, we needed housing. I didn’t know what I was going to pitch but we needed to come up with something because I needed that money. And we came up with TRS.”

A PLATFORM POWERED BY PASSION

TRS is Total Reentry Solutions, a company building a comprehensive digital health platform designed to “radically transform the reentry process for returning citizens.” Users interact with the app to access personalized resources, establish reentry care teams, and participate in soft skills training and mentorship programs.

Equipped with appointment reminders, resource navigation, and community support, the TRS app “serves as a lifeline for returning citizens, ensuring that essential health and social needs are met efficiently and effectively, facilitating their successful reintegration into society,” said Kelly, the company’s founder (along with Fields) and CEO. “The app also functions as a daily check-in tool, guiding users in setting and accomplishing action steps toward their goals.”

Kelly’s TRS entry (at that time the app was called Power in Passion) won the competition.

“The thing that stood out to the judges, and to us, was the problem she was trying to solve and her forward-thinking approach to it,” said Joe Carr, vice president, Entrepreneurship & Innovation Team at LEAP. “Her mission is a big one, and no one was aware of efforts like hers to help returning citizens. Katy also came across as that rare founder that has an insightfulness, the hustle and the tenacity to keep a project going.”

The cash prize solved Kelly’s housing problem, but she wasn’t sure yet what to do with her new app idea.

After further research and posts on social media, individuals began to respond.

“People started to reach out to me when they were having issues,” Kelly said. “And over time, I kept seeing how big the problem was and how I could help, and I decided this is what I really want to do.”

FUNDING FUELS THE PROJECT

After veering off into more hands-on reentry work, Kelly started focusing more on the app in the fall of 2022. She had met Tom Stewart, the director of venture programming at Conquer Accelerator, Spartan Innovations’ ten-week business accelerator.

After working with Conquer Accelerator’s incubation program and the Local Development Finance Authority, TRS was accepted into Conquer, which provides a $20,000 investment from the Michigan State University Research Foundation’s Red Cedar Ventures into each Conquer Accelerator company.

That was an important step in TRS’ journey.

“It was our first venture capital funding and started our pre-seed funding round,” Kelly said.

Interest has snowballed since then.

Carr encouraged a meeting with Frank Urban, director of venture creation for life sciences at Spartan Innovations. Urban was instrumental in landing TRS a spot in the Lansing Regional SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) + MedTech Accelerator program, a joint initiative between the Research Foundation and LEAP that aims to help early-stage medical technology companies accelerate their growth and success.

TRS also was accepted into the gener8tor gBETA Social Impact Accelerator, a venture capital accelerator.

Kelly said the TRS platform is “not your ordinary health app.”

“What sets the TRS app apart is its unique approach to breaking generational cycles of incarceration, which disproportionately impact minority and low-income populations,” she said. “It is designed to tackle the root cause issues that contribute to recidivism and improve quality of life outcomes for individuals returning to society.”

TRS LANDS A KEY DEVELOPMENT PARTNER

In March of 2023, TRS moved into the MSU Research Foundation’s Technology Innovation Center in East Lansing. After that, Urban introduced Kelly to the Apple Developer Academy, a partnership between Apple and MSU that focuses on coding, design, entrepreneurship, and essential professional skills. The Apple Developer Academy, located in Detroit, is Apple’s first academy in the United States and is part of Apple’s Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI).

“I thought TRS was a great social impact technology with the potential to affect recidivism and also kind of break the chain or break the cycle of incarceration,” Urban remembers. “I thought they would be a great fit for the Academy.”

TRS was accepted as a partner for the second year of the program, called Renaissance, during which an Academy team will work with TRS for at least 12 months beginning July 17, 2023 to develop the product—at no cost to TRS.

Kelly said she is thrilled to be working with the Apple Developer Academy.

“This is the huge missing piece we have been trying to fill, and I am excited about the possibilities that lie ahead,” she said. “With the expertise and support of the Apple Developer Academy, we can take our platform to the next level and provide our users with the best experience.”

Theodore Caldwell, Renaissance manager with Apple Developer Academy, said that TRS’s innovative approach to developing solutions that support returning citizens aligns with REJI and one of REJI’s three impact areas—criminal justice reform. REJI, which works to expand opportunities for Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Indigenous communities around the world is also focused in the areas of education and economic empowerment.

“If the Developer Academy can help Kelly improve the user experience of her app, and that leads to a more effective transition to society and reduces recidivism, then we’re both humbled and thrilled to collaborate on this effort!” Caldwell said.

Kelly expressed gratitude for all the ways her colleagues along the way have contributed to the formation of TRS.

“We truly appreciate the ecosystem that we are a part of,” she said.

Tom Stewart sums up well how those who have worked with Kelly feel about her and her work.

“Katy Kelly is an incredibly passionate founder with a deep understanding of the problem space around reentering citizens,” Stewart said. “She's lived the problem herself and understands the challenges individuals face and instead of waiting for the system to fix itself, has developed a process that provides real results and lasting impact for returning citizens and their families. If she can deliver this program through an easy-to-use, scalable platform, I think TRS has the potential to create positive outcomes for thousands of individuals and families.”