We had two main partners in developing this website, the first of which is Trudy Watt, a professor at UWM whose main goal was to create a building design that Central DOOR would hopefully be working out of. Adam Procell, our second partner, is the creator of Central DOOR itself and was a great resource when it came to designing and putting content on the website. We had each of them give a brief description of themselves and their roles in this project which can be found below.  

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In Fall 2021, Assistant Professor Trudy Watt convened the Vulnerability Studio at UWM SARUP around Adam Procell and Shannon Ross' vision for the Central DOOR. The focus for the advanced undergraduate and graduate architecture students in this studio was to design a reentry campus that consolidates existing re-entry services, integrates holistic access to thriving, and provides wraparound support including housing and clinical components for people reintegrating after incarceration in Milwaukee. We explored the way that architecture can support the well-being of stigmatized people whose health has been undermined by marginalizing or indifferently designed environments and systems. Working with the reentry community meant deep listening to the experiences of system impacted people over a month of interviewing and discussion, so that we could do our best to advance design ideas that might begin to reverse engineer the dehumanizing experience of incarceration. In this process, we leveraged awareness practice, self-reflection, applied compassion, design thinking, community engagement, collaboration, and inclusive design principles to propose thriving futures for this vulnerable community. This is is what Mr. Procell has to say:

"My name is Adam Procell and I am the Community Outreach Specialist for Partners In Hope, a Faith-based prisoner reintegration program.  It was during my time there that I realized that while there are quite a few great reentry organizations in the Milwaukee area, very few if any provide all the reentry services one needs.  Beyond that, very few of them work together, leaving returning citizens with no other option than to travel to multiple reentry service providers.  (Most returning citizens do not have transportation.)

"In response to that, I created The Central DOOR, (The Central Department Of Organized Reentry.)  The Central DOOR aims to shut the revolving door of incarceration and open the central door to successful reentry.  It will accomplish this by providing the space to house multiple reentry service providers and resources under one roof.  I had what I thought was a great vision in my head, but needed to find a way to bring that vision to life.  Professor Michael Carriere at MSOE connected me with a professor of architecture at UW-Milwaukee.  Professor Trudy Watt specialized in compassionate design and was open to creating a course that took a deep dive into  the history of reentry.   The goal was to reverse engineer the physical dehumanization of incarceration and create physical renderings of a holistic reentry center.  The Architecture of Reentry was born, and the plan was to partner with MSOE to take the physical renderings and add a digital component via a website.  MSOE honor students began reaching out to many reentry service providers and started to compile resources for an inclusive and user friendly digital version of Central DOOR.

"While I didn’t know what to expect working with college students that had never spent a day behind bars, I realized almost instantly that they provided an intelligence and professionalism that blew me away.  I literally remember making the comment that I feel so much better knowing that these minds will one day be the leaders of our country.  To that end, in spite of all the negativity throughout the world right now, I have all the faith in the world that we are going to be alright."

 Trudy Watt (left) and Adam Procell (right)